Which to use
“icky” and “iffy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,895
- “icky” frequency rank
- #37,981
- “iffy” frequency rank
- 76876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | icky | iffy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. | Of dubious authenticity, legitimacy or legality. |
Where the eye mixes icky and iffy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between icky and iffy
A purely visual mix-up. icky (/ˈɪki/) and iffy (/ˈɪfi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76876, 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/. iffy is at rank #37,981, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪfi/.
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 76876, this pair ranks #28,879 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of icky vs iffy
Shared letters: iy. Private to "icky": ck. Private to "iffy": f.
"icky" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "iffy" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "icky" and "iffy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "icky" or "iffy"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "icky" and "iffy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "icky" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "iffy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,879 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "icky" and "iffy" 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 #28,879 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.