Which to use
“irate” is an adjective and “ire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,988
- “irate” frequency rank
- #21,834
- “ire” frequency rank
- 59822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | irate | ire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Extremely angry; wrathful; enraged. | Iron. |
Where the eye mixes irate and ire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. irate runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against ire's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses irate with ire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: irate is /aɪˈɹeɪt/ while ire is /aɪ.ɚ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
irate is recorded at frequency rank #37,988, classified as anadj, pronounced /aɪˈɹeɪt/. ire is at rank #21,834, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɪ.ɚ/.
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 59822, this pair ranks #103,905 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of irate vs ire
Shared letters: eir. Private to "irate": at. Private to "ire": -.
"irate" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- irate ← iarte · iraet · iratte · irrate · irtae · riate
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "irate" for "ire" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "irate" or "ire" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "irate" and "ire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "irate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,905 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "irate" and "ire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IATA vs irate". 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 #103,905 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.