Which to use
“icky” is an adjective and “iggy” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,895
- “icky” frequency rank
- #19,862
- “iggy” frequency rank
- 58757
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | icky | iggy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. | To ignore (a user on a chat system, etc.). |
Letter map: icky vs iggy
Shared letters muted; letters that set icky and iggy apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - icky and iggy
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: icky is anadjective and iggyaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58757, 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/. iggy is at rank #19,862, tagged as averb.
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 58757, this pair ranks #110,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of icky vs iggy
Shared letters: iy. Private to "icky": ck. Private to "iggy": g.
"icky" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "iggy" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "icky" for "iggy" ever safe?
Frequency check: "icky" vs "iggy" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "icky" vs "iggy" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "icky" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "iggy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "icky" and "iggy" 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 #110,506 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.