ivy
/ˈaɪvi/
"ivy" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ivy” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,199 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,199
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several woody, climbing, or trailing evergreen plants of the genus Hedera.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ivy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈaɪvi/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #9,199 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ivy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ivy is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈaɪvi/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,199 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
ivy doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "iz", "IWC", "Izzy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ivi, from Old English īfiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *ibig, *ibag, *ibah, from Proto-Germanic *ibahs (compare West Flemish iefte, Low German Eiloov, Ieloof, German Efeu), from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)ebʰ- (compare Welsh efwr (“black eld… The correct English form is ivy, spelled I-V-Y.
Definition
- 1Any of several woody, climbing, or trailing evergreen plants of the genus Hedera.
- 2Any similar plant of any genus.
Etymology
From Middle English ivi, from Old English īfiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *ibig, *ibag, *ibah, from Proto-Germanic *ibahs (compare West Flemish iefte, Low German Eiloov, Ieloof, German Efeu), from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)ebʰ- (compare Welsh efwr (“black elder”), Ancient Greek ἴφυον (íphuon, “spike-lavender, Lavandula Spica”)).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ivy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-V-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈaɪvi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “iz” - see the side-by-side comparison. ivy vs iz
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.