I vs ir, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“I” is a symbol and “ir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#381
“I” frequency rank: #14,065
“ir” frequency rank: 14446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	I	ir
Definition	Symbole chimique de l’iode.	Aller, se déplacer jusqu'à un endroit.

Letter map: I vs ir

Shared letters muted; letters that set I and ir apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

1 ch

2 ch

Role in the sentence - I and ir

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: I is asymbol and iraverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “I” sits inside “ir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

I is recorded at frequency rank #381, classified as asymbol. ir is at rank #14,065, tagged as averb, pronounced \iɾ\.

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 14446, this pair ranks #396,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of I vs ir

Shared letters: i. Private to "I": -. Private to "ir": r.

"I" · 1 letters · shape V · "ir" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

Frequency check: "I" vs "ir" - which ranks higher?

"I" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #381 in our French list, against #14,065 for "ir". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "I" vs "ir" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "I" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #396,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"I" and "ir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ir vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #396,616 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.