ist vs ix, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ist” is a verb and “ix” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,994
“ist” frequency rank: #6,918
“ix” frequency rank: 48912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ist	ix
Definition	Tercera persona del singular (er, sie, es) del presente de indicativo de sein.	Femenino.

Where the eye mixes ist and ix

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

3 ch

ist

2 ch

Visual trap between ist and ix

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ist is /ɪst/ while ix is /ʔiʃ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ist is recorded at frequency rank #41,994, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪst/. ix is at rank #6,918, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʔiʃ/.

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 48912, this pair ranks #111,817 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ist vs ix

Shared letters: i. Private to "ist": st. Private to "ix": x.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ist" is a verb and "ix" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ist" vs "ix" - which ranks higher?

"ix" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,918 in our Spanish list, against #41,994 for "ist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ist" and "ix" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "ist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #111,817 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ist" and "ix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ist vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #111,817 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.