impvsivyWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“imp” and “ivy” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,085
“imp” frequency rank
#31,405
“ivy” frequency rank
57490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imp ivy
Definition Granuja. (Hedera spp.) Hiedra.

Where the eye mixes imp and ivy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
imp
3 ch
ivy

Why the eye confuses imp with ivy

A purely visual mix-up. imp (/ɪmp/) and ivy (/ˈaɪ.vi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imp is recorded at frequency rank #26,085, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪmp/. ivy is at rank #31,405, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.vi/.

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 57490, this pair ranks #70,309 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of imp vs ivy

Shared letters: i. Private to "imp": mp. Private to "ivy": vy.

"imp" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ivy" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "imp" and "ivy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɪmp/ versus /ˈaɪ.vi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "imp" or "ivy" show up more?
"imp" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,085 in our Spanish list, against #31,405 for "ivy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "imp" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ivy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,309 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imp" and "ivy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ivy vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,309 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