idesvsindexWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ides” and “index” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,856
“ides” frequency rank
#2,628
“index” frequency rank
47484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ides index
Definition The notional full-moon day of a Roman month, occurring on the 15th day of the four original 31-day months (March, May, Quintilis or July, and October) and on the 13th day of all other months. An alphabetical listing of items and their location.

Where the eye mixes ides and index

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
ides
5 ch
index

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ides (/aɪdz/) and index (/ˈɪndɛks/) 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 47484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ides is recorded at frequency rank #44,856, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɪdz/. index is at rank #2,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪndɛks/.

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 47484, this pair ranks #201,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ides vs index

Shared letters: dei. Private to "ides": s. Private to "index": nx.

"ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "index" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • idesiddes · idess · idse · ieds
  • indexidnex · inddex · indexx · indxe · inedx · inndex · nidex

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ides" and "index" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/aɪdz/ versus /ˈɪndɛks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ides" or "index"?
"index" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,628 in our English list, against #44,856 for "ides". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list