# irritant vs irritate

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### irritant
*adjective · IPA /ˈɪɹɪtənt/ · frequency rank #41,701*
Causing irritation or inflammation.

### irritate
*verb · IPA /ˈɪɹ.ɪˌteɪt/ · frequency rank #26,132*
To provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure in.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/irritant-vs-irritate