Which to use
“ies” is a noun and “its” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,358
- “ies” frequency rank
- #15,916
- “its” frequency rank
- 41274
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ies | its |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ie. | Son, sa (lorsque c’est une chose qui possède). |
Where the eye mixes ies and its
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ies vs its
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ies is \je\ while its is \ɪts\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “ies” becomes t in “its”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41274, 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\. its is at rank #15,916, tagged as adet, pronounced \ɪts\.
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 41274, this pair ranks #234,316 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ies vs its
Shared letters: is. Private to "ies": e. Private to "its": t.
"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "its" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ies" for "its" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ies" vs "its" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "its" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #234,316 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ies" and "its" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs isi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #234,316 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.