icevsinkConfusable pair

Quick tell: ice is a pronoun, ink is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ice” is a pronoun and “ink” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,518
“ice” frequency rank
#45,673
“ink” frequency rank
56191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ice ink
Definition Variante de iço. Encre.

Letter map: ice vs ink

Shared letters muted; letters that set ice and ink apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ice
3 ch
ink

Role in the sentence - ice and ink

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ice is apronoun and inkanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56191, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ice is recorded at frequency rank #10,518, classified as apron. ink is at rank #45,673, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɪŋk\.

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 56191, this pair ranks #122,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ice vs ink

Shared letters: i. Private to "ice": ce. Private to "ink": kn.

"ice" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ink" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ice" and "ink" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ice" is a pronoun and "ink" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ice" or "ink" show up more?
"ice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,518 in our French list, against #45,673 for "ink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "ice" and "ink". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ice" and "ink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ink vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #122,645 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list