ir vs ist, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#186
“ir” frequency rank: #41,994
“ist” frequency rank: 42180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ir	ist
Definition	Desplazarse de un lugar a otro.	Tercera persona del singular (er, sie, es) del presente de indicativo de sein.

Where the eye mixes ir and ist

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

2 ch

3 ch

ist

Why the eye confuses ir with ist

A purely visual mix-up. ir ([ˈiɾ]) and ist (/ɪst/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ir is recorded at frequency rank #186, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈiɾ]. ist is at rank #41,994, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪst/.

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 42180, this pair ranks #149,675 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ir vs ist

Shared letters: i. Private to "ir": r. Private to "ist": st.

"ir" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ist" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ir" for "ist" ever safe?

No. They are said differently ([ˈiɾ] versus /ɪst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ir" or "ist"?

"ir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #186 in our Spanish list, against #41,994 for "ist". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "ir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #149,675 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ir" and "ist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ist vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #149,675 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.