iesvsipsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ies is a noun, ips is a symbol, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ies” is a noun and “ips” is a symbol - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,988
“ies” frequency rank
#20,676
“ips” frequency rank
66664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ies ips
Definition plural of i, the name of the letter I. Initialism of inch(es) per second.

Letter map: ies vs ips

Shared letters muted; letters that set ies and ips apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
ies
3 ch
ips

Role in the sentence - ies and ips

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ies is anoun and ipsasymbol. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “ies” becomes p in “ips”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ies is recorded at frequency rank #45,988, classified as anoun. ips is at rank #20,676, tagged as asymbol.

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 66664, this pair ranks #66,968 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ies vs ips

Shared letters: is. Private to "ies": e. Private to "ips": p.

"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "ips" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ies" and "ips" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ies" is a noun and "ips" a symbol, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ies" vs "ips" - which ranks higher?
"ips" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,676 in our English list, against #45,988 for "ies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "ies" and "ips". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,968 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ies" and "ips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs ith". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,968 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