Which to use
“ies” and “ives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,358
- “ies” frequency rank
- #47,977
- “ives” frequency rank
- 73335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ies | ives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ie. | Pluriel de ive. |
Where the eye mixes ies and ives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ies runs 3 letters (VVC) against ives's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ies and ives
A purely visual mix-up. ies (\je\) and ives (\iv\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73335, 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\. ives is at rank #47,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \iv\.
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 73335, this pair ranks #40,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ies vs ives
Shared letters: eis. Private to "ies": -. Private to "ives": v.
"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "ives" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ives ← ievs · ivess · ivse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ies" for "ives" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ies" or "ives"?
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 "ives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ies" and "ives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs ives". 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 #40,829 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.