Which to use
“ies” and “ios” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,358
- “ies” frequency rank
- #8,870
- “ios” frequency rank
- 34228
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ies | ios |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ie. | Pluriel de io. |
Where the eye mixes ies and ios
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ies with ios
A purely visual mix-up. ies (\je\) and ios (\jo\) 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 a single letter - e in “ies” becomes o in “ios”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34228, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ies is recorded at frequency rank #25,358, classified as anoun, pronounced \je\. ios is at rank #8,870, tagged as anoun, pronounced \jo\.
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 34228, this pair ranks #285,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ies vs ios
Shared letters: is. Private to "ies": e. Private to "ios": o.
"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "ios" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ies" and "ios" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ies" or "ios" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ies" and "ios" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ios" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ies" and "ios" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs isi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #285,279 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.