Which to use
“ies” and “items” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,358
- “ies” frequency rank
- #25,024
- “items” frequency rank
- 50382
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ies | items |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ie. | Pluriel de item. |
Where the eye mixes ies and items
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ies with items
A purely visual mix-up. ies (\je\) and items (\i.tɛm\) 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 50382, 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\. items is at rank #25,024, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.tɛm\.
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 50382, this pair ranks #163,076 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ies vs items
Shared letters: eis. Private to "ies": -. Private to "items": mt.
"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "items" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- items ← ietms · itemms · itemss · itesm · ittems
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ies" for "items" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ies" or "items" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "items" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,076 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ies" and "items" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs isi". 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 #163,076 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.