iesvsIRATell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,988
“ies” frequency rank
#9,057
“IRA” frequency rank
55045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ies IRA
Definition plural of i, the name of the letter I. Initialism of individual retirement account.

Letter map: ies vs IRA

Shared letters muted; letters that set ies and IRA apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ies
3 ch
IRA

Spelling & dictionary notes on ies vs IRA

ies and IRA 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 55045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ies is recorded at frequency rank #45,988, classified as anoun. IRA is at rank #9,057, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɪ ɑɹ eɪ/.

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 55045, this pair ranks #136,545 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ies vs IRA

Shared letters: i. Private to "ies": es. Private to "IRA": ar.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ies" for "IRA" ever safe?
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.
Which is more common, "ies" or "IRA"?
"IRA" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,057 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "IRA" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,545 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ies" and "IRA" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs ith". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #136,545 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