icivsiecWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ici is a adverb, iec is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ici” is an adverb and “iec” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#153
“ici” frequency rank
#48,589
“iec” frequency rank
48742
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ici iec
Definition Il marque la proximité immédiate dans l’espace par rapport à soi. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent du verbe ié.

Where the eye mixes ici and iec

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ici
3 ch
iec

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ici is \i.si\ while iec is \iˈɛʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ici is recorded at frequency rank #153, classified as anadv, pronounced \i.si\. iec is at rank #48,589, tagged as averb, pronounced \iˈɛʃ\.

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 48742, this pair ranks #176,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ici vs iec

Shared letters: ci. Private to "ici": -. Private to "iec": e.

"ici" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "iec" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ici" and "iec" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ici" is an adverb and "iec" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ici" or "iec"?
"ici" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #153 in our French list, against #48,589 for "iec". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list