iesvsIMEWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,988
“ies” frequency rank
#47,112
“IME” frequency rank
93100
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ies IME
Definition plural of i, the name of the letter I. Initialism of input method editor.

Letter map: ies vs IME

Shared letters muted; letters that set ies and IME apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. ies (VVC) and IME (VCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
ies
3 ch
IME

Spelling & dictionary notes on ies vs IME

ies and IME are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ies is recorded at frequency rank #45,988, classified as anoun. IME is at rank #47,112, tagged as anoun.

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 93100, this pair ranks #2,137 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ies vs IME

Shared letters: ei. Private to "ies": s. Private to "IME": m.

"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "IME" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ies" and "IME" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "ies" vs "IME" - which ranks higher?
"ies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,988 in our English list, against #47,112 for "IME". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "ies" vs "IME" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "IME" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,137 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ies" and "IME" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IME vs ith". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,137 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list