Which to use
“icky” and “ilk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,895
- “icky” frequency rank
- #32,443
- “ilk” frequency rank
- 71338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | icky | ilk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. | Very; same. |
Where the eye mixes icky and ilk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses icky with ilk
A purely visual mix-up. icky (/ˈɪki/) and ilk (/ɪlk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71338, 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/. ilk is at rank #32,443, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪlk/.
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 71338, this pair ranks #47,120 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of icky vs ilk
Shared letters: ik. Private to "icky": cy. Private to "ilk": l.
"icky" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ilk" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- icky ← ciky · iccky · ickky · ickyy · icyk · ikcy
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "icky" and "ilk" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "icky" vs "ilk" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "icky" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ilk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,120 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "icky" and "ilk" 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 #47,120 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.