Which to use
“Icare” is a name and “ivre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,805
- “Icare” frequency rank
- #9,682
- “ivre” frequency rank
- 50487
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Icare | ivre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fils de Dédale ; négligeant les avis de son père, il s’éleva trop haut dans les airs ; la chaleur du soleil fondit la cire qui attachait ses ailes ; l’imprudent tomba et périt dans la mer. | Qui a le cerveau troublé par l’effet des boissons fermentées, par l’alcool, etc. |
Where the eye mixes Icare and ivre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Icare runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against ivre's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Icare vs ivre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Icare is \i.kaʁ\ while ivre is \ivʁ\. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Icare is recorded at frequency rank #40,805, classified as aname, pronounced \i.kaʁ\. ivre is at rank #9,682, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ivʁ\.
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 50487, this pair ranks #162,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Icare vs ivre
Shared letters: eir. Private to "Icare": ac. Private to "ivre": v.
"Icare" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "ivre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Icare" and "ivre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "Icare" or "ivre" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Icare" and "ivre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Icare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ivre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Icare" and "ivre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Icare vs ignare". 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 #162,245 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.