Which to use
“ibis” and “ives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,067
- “ibis” frequency rank
- #47,977
- “ives” frequency rank
- 79044
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ibis | ives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espèce d'oiseau échassier de la famille des threskiornithidés, au bec long, mince et recourbé. | Pluriel de ive. |
Where the eye mixes ibis and ives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ibis and ives follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between ibis and ives
A purely visual mix-up. ibis (\i.bis\) and ives (\iv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ibis is recorded at frequency rank #31,067, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.bis\. ives is at rank #47,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \iv\.
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 79044, this pair ranks #24,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ibis vs ives
Shared letters: is. Private to "ibis": b. Private to "ives": ev.
"ibis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ives" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ibis" and "ives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ibis" or "ives" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ibis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ibis" and "ives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs ives". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #24,187 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.