Which to use
“ides” is a noun and “ips” is a symbol - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,389
- “ides” frequency rank
- #38,871
- “ips” frequency rank
- 81260
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ides | ips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le quinzième jour des mois de mars, de mai, de juillet et d’octobre dans le calendrier des anciens Romains, et le treizième des autres mois. | Unité de mesure de la fréquence d’échantillonnage d’un film : nombre d’images qui défilent par seconde. |
Where the eye mixes ides and ips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ides with ips
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ides is \id\ while ips is \i.pe.ɛs\. 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 symbol), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ides is recorded at frequency rank #42,389, classified as anoun, pronounced \id\. ips is at rank #38,871, tagged as asymbol, pronounced \i.pe.ɛs\.
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 81260, this pair ranks #19,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ides vs ips
Shared letters: is. Private to "ides": de. Private to "ips": p.
"ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ips" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ides ← iddes · idess · ieds
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ides" for "ips" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ides" or "ips"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ides" and "ips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ides vs ime". 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 #19,136 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.