Which to use
“icky” and “itty” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,895
- “icky” frequency rank
- #48,299
- “itty” frequency rank
- 87194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | icky | itty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. | Extremely small; itty-bitty. |
Where the eye mixes icky and itty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: icky vs itty
A purely visual mix-up. icky (/ˈɪki/) and itty (/ˈɪti/) 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 87194, 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/. itty is at rank #48,299, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪti/.
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 87194, this pair ranks #7,944 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of icky vs itty
Shared letters: iy. Private to "icky": ck. Private to "itty": t.
"icky" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "itty" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "icky" for "itty" ever safe?
Frequency check: "icky" vs "itty" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "itty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,944 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "icky" and "itty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ith vs itty". 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 #7,944 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.