Which to use
“ies” is a noun and “Ives” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,988
- “ies” frequency rank
- #23,012
- “Ives” frequency rank
- 69000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ies | Ives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of i, the name of the letter I. | A surname originating as a patronymic. |
Letter map: ies vs Ives
Shared letters muted; letters that set ies and Ives apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. ies runs 3 letters (VVC) against Ives's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for ies / Ives
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ies is anoun and Ivesaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ies is recorded at frequency rank #45,988, classified as anoun. Ives is at rank #23,012, tagged as aname, pronounced /aɪvz/.
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 69000, this pair ranks #56,438 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ies vs Ives
Shared letters: eis. Private to "ies": -. Private to "Ives": v.
"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "Ives" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Ives ← ievs · ivess · ivse · ivves · vies
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ies" for "Ives" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ies" or "Ives"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ies" and "Ives".
- Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Ives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,438 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ies" and "Ives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs ith". 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 #56,438 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.