IcavsisiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Ica is a name, isi is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ica” is a name and “isi” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,449
“Ica” frequency rank
#39,822
“isi” frequency rank
57271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ica isi
Definition Ciudad peruana; capital del departamento homónimo. El extranjero, tierra o país de donde uno no es.

Where the eye mixes Ica and isi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Ica and isi follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
Ica
3 ch
isi

Visual trap between Ica and isi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ica is [ˈika] while isi is /ì.sí/. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ica is recorded at frequency rank #17,449, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈika]. isi is at rank #39,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ì.sí/.

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 57271, this pair ranks #71,157 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Ica vs isi

Shared letters: i. Private to "Ica": ac. Private to "isi": s.

"Ica" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "isi" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ica" for "isi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ica" is a name and "isi" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Ica" or "isi" show up more?
"Ica" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,449 in our Spanish list, against #39,822 for "isi". 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 "Ica" and "isi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "isi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,157 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ica" and "isi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #71,157 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list