IcavsizaWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#17,449
“Ica” frequency rank
#49,092
“iza” frequency rank
66541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ica iza
Definition Ciudad peruana; capital del departamento homónimo. Acción o efecto de izar.

Where the eye mixes Ica and iza

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Ica and iza 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
iza

Why the eye confuses Ica with iza

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ica is [ˈika] while iza is [ˈisa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “Ica” becomes z in “iza”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66541, 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]. iza is at rank #49,092, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈisa].

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 66541, this pair ranks #39,599 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Ica vs iza

Shared letters: ai. Private to "Ica": c. Private to "iza": z.

"Ica" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "iza" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ica" for "iza" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ica" is a name and "iza" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Ica" vs "iza" - which ranks higher?
"Ica" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,449 in our Spanish list, against #49,092 for "iza". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "iza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,599 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ica" and "iza" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imam vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #39,599 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