itvsithWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: it is a pronoun, ith is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“it” is a pronoun and “ith” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12
“it” frequency rank
#49,435
“ith” frequency rank
49447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature it ith
Definition The third-person singular neuter personal pronoun used to refer to an inanimate object, abstract entity, or non-human living thing. Occurring at position i in a sequence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set it and ith apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch
it
3 ch
ith

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

it and ith form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “it” sits inside “ith” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

it is recorded at frequency rank #12, classified as apron, pronounced /ɪt/. 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 49447, this pair ranks #183,514 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

it#12
ith#49,435

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "it" and "ith" be used interchangeably?
No, "it" and "ith" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering it vs ith

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “it”; for an adjective, it's “ith”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “it” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list