ICJvsiconWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ICJ is a name, icon is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ICJ” is a name and “icon” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,411
“ICJ” frequency rank
#5,504
“icon” frequency rank
54915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ICJ icon
Definition Initialism of International Court of Justice. An image, symbol, picture, portrait, or other representation, usually as an object of religious devotion.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ICJ and icon apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ICJ
4 ch
icon

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ICJ is aname and iconanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ICJ is recorded at frequency rank #49,411, classified as aname. icon is at rank #5,504, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.kɒn/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 54915, this pair ranks #137,512 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ICJ vs icon

Shared letters: ci. Private to "ICJ": j. Private to "icon": no.

"ICJ" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "icon" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • iconiccon · icno · iconn · iocn

Frequency comparison

ICJ#49,411
icon#5,504

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ICJ" and "icon" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ICJ" is a name and "icon" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ICJ" or "icon"?
"icon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,504 in our English list, against #49,411 for "ICJ". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ICJ vs icon

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “ICJ”; for a noun, it's “icon”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ICJ” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list