ítemvsitsConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#31,605
“ítem” frequency rank
#18,002
“its” frequency rank
49607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ítem its
Definition Úsase para introducir cada uno de los acápites de un texto o los elementos de una lista. Su, sus; que pertenece a un animal o una cosa.

Where the eye mixes ítem and its

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

4 ch
ítem
3 ch
its

Look-alike desk: ítem vs its

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ítem is [ˈit̪ẽm] while its is /ɪts/. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ítem is recorded at frequency rank #31,605, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈit̪ẽm]. its is at rank #18,002, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪts/.

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 49607, this pair ranks #107,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ítem vs its

Shared letters: t. Private to "ítem": emí. Private to "its": is.

"ítem" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "its" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ítem" and "its" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ítem" is an adverb and "its" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ítem" or "its" show up more?
"its" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,002 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ítem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "its" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ítem" and "its" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imam vs ítem". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #107,868 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