icônesvsironsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: icônes is a noun, irons is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“icônes” is a noun and “irons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,311
“icônes” frequency rank
#17,980
“irons” frequency rank
37291
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature icônes irons
Definition Pluriel de icône. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif futur de aller.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set icônes and irons apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
icônes
5 ch
irons

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: icônes is \i.kon\ while irons is \i.ʁɔ̃\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37291, 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\. irons is at rank #17,980, tagged as averb, pronounced \i.ʁɔ̃\.

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 37291, this pair ranks #263,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of icônes vs irons

Shared letters: ins. Private to "icônes": ceô. Private to "irons": or.

"icônes" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "irons" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ironsiorns · irnos · ironns · ironss · irosn · irrons · rions

Frequency comparison

icônes#19,311
irons#17,980

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "icônes" and "irons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "icônes" is a noun and "irons" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "icônes" or "irons"?
"irons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,980 in our French list, against #19,311 for "icônes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering icônes vs irons

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “icônes”; for a verb, it's “irons”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “icônes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list