Which to use
“ides” and “item” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,856
- “ides” frequency rank
- #2,629
- “item” frequency rank
- 47485
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ides | item |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | A distinct physical object. |
Where the eye mixes ides and item
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ides vs item
A purely visual mix-up. ides (/aɪdz/) and item (/ˈaɪ.təm/) 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 47485, 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/. item is at rank #2,629, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.təm/.
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 47485, this pair ranks #201,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ides vs item
Shared letters: ei. Private to "ides": ds. Private to "item": mt.
"ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "item" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ides" and "item" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ides" vs "item" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "item" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ides" and "item" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ices vs ides". 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 #201,979 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.