irevsítemTell them apart

Quick tell: ire is a noun, ítem is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ire” is a noun and “ítem” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,373
“ire” frequency rank
#31,605
“ítem” frequency rank
52978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ire ítem
Definition Ira. Úsase para introducir cada uno de los acápites de un texto o los elementos de una lista.

Where the eye mixes ire and ítem

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

3 ch
ire
4 ch
ítem

Look-alike desk: ire vs ítem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ire is [aɪəʳ] while ítem is [ˈit̪ẽm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ire is recorded at frequency rank #21,373, classified as anoun, pronounced [aɪəʳ]. ítem is at rank #31,605, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈit̪ẽm].

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 52978, this pair ranks #90,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ire vs ítem

Shared letters: e. Private to "ire": ir. Private to "ítem": mtí.

"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ítem" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ire" and "ítem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ire" is a noun and "ítem" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ire" or "ítem" show up more?
"ire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,373 in our Spanish list, against #31,605 for "ítem". 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 "ire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ítem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #90,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ire" and "ítem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imam vs ítem". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #90,138 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