Which to use
“io” and “ion” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,588
- “io” frequency rank
- #14,064
- “ion” frequency rank
- 37652
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | io | ion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Septième lettre de l’alphabet cyrillique, ё. | Atome ou molécule ayant perdu ou gagné des électrons sur sa couche externe. |
Where the eye mixes io and ion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses io with ion
A purely visual mix-up. io (\jo\) and ion (\jɔ̃\) 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 extra letter(s) - “io” sits inside “ion”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
io is recorded at frequency rank #23,588, classified as anoun, pronounced \jo\. ion is at rank #14,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced \jɔ̃\.
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 37652, this pair ranks #260,940 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of io vs ion
Shared letters: io. Private to "io": -. Private to "ion": n.
"io" · 2 letters · shape VV · "ion" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "io" and "ion" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "io" or "ion" 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 "io" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,940 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "io" and "ion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "io vs isi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #260,940 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.