ichvsimTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,406
“ich” frequency rank
#10,152
“im” frequency rank
51558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ich im
Definition Yo (pronombre de primera persona singular) Mi.

Letter map: ich vs im

Shared letters muted; letters that set ich and im apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ich
2 ch
im

Role in the sentence - ich and im

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ich is apronoun and imanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ich is recorded at frequency rank #41,406, classified as apron, pronounced [ɪç]. im is at rank #10,152, tagged as anadj.

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 51558, this pair ranks #97,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ich vs im

Shared letters: i. Private to "ich": ch. Private to "im": m.

"ich" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "im" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ich" for "im" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ich" is a pronoun and "im" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ich" vs "im" - which ranks higher?
"im" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,152 in our Spanish list, against #41,406 for "ich". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "ich" vs "im" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "im" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ich" and "im" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ich vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #97,288 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