itchyvsithTell them apart

Which to use

“itchy” and “ith” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,599
“itchy” frequency rank
#49,435
“ith” frequency rank
68034
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature itchy ith
Definition Characterized by itching. (of a condition) Occurring at position i in a sequence.

Where the eye mixes itchy and ith

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
itchy
3 ch
ith

Visual trap between itchy and ith

A purely visual mix-up. itchy (/ˈɪt͡ʃi/) and ith (/aɪθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

itchy is recorded at frequency rank #18,599, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪt͡ʃi/. 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 68034, this pair ranks #60,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of itchy vs ith

Shared letters: hit. Private to "itchy": cy. Private to "ith": -.

"itchy" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "ith" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • itchyicthy · itcchy · itchhy · itchyy · itcyh · ithcy · ittchy · tichy

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "itchy" for "ith" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɪt͡ʃi/ versus /aɪθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "itchy" vs "ith" - which ranks higher?
"itchy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,599 in our English list, against #49,435 for "ith". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "itchy" and "ith" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "itchy" 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 #60,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "itchy" and "ith" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ISR 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 #60,736 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list