Which to use
“it's” is a contraction and “ítem” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,360
- “it's” frequency rank
- #31,605
- “ítem” frequency rank
- 41965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | it's | ítem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contracción de el pronombre it ("ello") y el verbo is ("es"). | Úsase para introducir cada uno de los acápites de un texto o los elementos de una lista. |
Where the eye mixes it's and ítem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: it's vs ítem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: it's is /ɪts/ while ítem is [ˈit̪ẽm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
it's is recorded at frequency rank #10,360, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ɪts/. 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 41965, this pair ranks #150,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of it's vs ítem
Shared letters: t. Private to "it's": is. Private to "ítem": emí.
"it's" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ítem" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "it's" for "ítem" ever safe?
Frequency check: "it's" vs "ítem" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "it's" 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 #150,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "it's" and "ítem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imam vs ítem". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #150,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.