ickyvsICTConfusable pair

Quick tell: icky is a adjective, ICT is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“icky” is an adjective and “ICT” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,895
“icky” frequency rank
#18,856
“ICT” frequency rank
57751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature icky ICT
Definition Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. Initialism of In-Circuit Test.

Letter map: icky vs ICT

Shared letters muted; letters that set icky and ICT apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
icky
3 ch
ICT

Role in the sentence - icky and ICT

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: icky is anadjective and ICTanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

icky is recorded at frequency rank #38,895, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪki/. ICT is at rank #18,856, tagged as anoun.

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 57751, this pair ranks #117,246 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of icky vs ICT

Shared letters: ci. Private to "icky": ky. Private to "ICT": t.

"icky" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ICT" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ickyciky · iccky · ickky · ickyy · icyk · ikcy

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "icky" for "ICT" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "icky" is an adjective and "ICT" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "icky" vs "ICT" - which ranks higher?
"ICT" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,856 in our English list, against #38,895 for "icky". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "icky" and "ICT".

  • Full dictionary entry for "icky" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ICT" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,246 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "icky" and "ICT" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ICJ vs icky". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #117,246 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list