Which to use
“ire” is a noun and “ith” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,834
- “ire” frequency rank
- #49,435
- “ith” frequency rank
- 71269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ire | ith |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Iron. | Occurring at position i in a sequence. |
Where the eye mixes ire and ith
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. ire (VCV) and ith (VCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: ire vs ith
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ire is /aɪ.ɚ/ while ith is /aɪθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ire is recorded at frequency rank #21,834, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɪ.ɚ/. ith is at rank #49,435, tagged as anadj, pronounced /aɪθ/.
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 71269, this pair ranks #47,377 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ire vs ith
Shared letters: i. Private to "ire": er. Private to "ith": ht.
"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ith" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ire" for "ith" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ire" vs "ith" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ire" and "ith" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ith" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,377 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ire" and "ith" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ISR vs ith". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #47,377 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.