ievsisiWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,068
“ie” frequency rank
#49,170
“isi” frequency rank
56238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ie isi
Definition Neuvième lettre de l’alphabet cyrillique, е. Deuxième personne du singulier du futur de l’indicatif du verbe isal/isañ.

Where the eye mixes ie and isi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ie
3 ch
isi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ie is \je\ while isi is \ˈisːi\. 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 56238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ie is recorded at frequency rank #7,068, classified as anoun, pronounced \je\. isi is at rank #49,170, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈisːi\.

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 56238, this pair ranks #122,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ie vs isi

Shared letters: i. Private to "ie": e. Private to "isi": s.

"ie" · 2 letters · shape VV  ·  "isi" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ie" and "isi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ie" is a noun and "isi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ie" or "isi"?
"ie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,068 in our French list, against #49,170 for "isi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list