Which to use
“icônes” and “ions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,311
- “icônes” frequency rank
- #17,978
- “ions” frequency rank
- 37289
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | icônes | ions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de icône. | Pluriel de ion. |
Where the eye mixes icônes and ions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. icônes runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against ions's 4 (VVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between icônes and ions
A purely visual mix-up. icônes (\i.kon\) and ions (\jɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
icônes is recorded at frequency rank #19,311, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.kon\. ions is at rank #17,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced \jɔ̃\.
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 37289, this pair ranks #263,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of icônes vs ions
Shared letters: ins. Private to "icônes": ceô. Private to "ions": o.
"icônes" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "ions" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ions ← inos · ionns · ionss · iosn · oins
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "icônes" and "ions" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "icônes" vs "ions" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "icônes" and "ions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "icônes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #263,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "icônes" and "ions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ilona vs ions". 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 #263,510 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.