Which to use
“ion” and “ions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,064
- “ion” frequency rank
- #17,978
- “ions” frequency rank
- 32042
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ion | ions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Atome ou molécule ayant perdu ou gagné des électrons sur sa couche externe. | Pluriel de ion. |
Same sound, different letters: ion vs ions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - ion and ions
This is the hard kind. ion and ions are pronounced identically (\jɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ion” sits inside “ions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ion is recorded at frequency rank #14,064, classified as anoun, pronounced \jɔ̃\. ions is at rank #17,978, 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 32042, this pair ranks #299,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ion vs ions
Shared letters: ino. Private to "ion": -. Private to "ions": s.
"ion" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "ions" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ions ← inos · ionns · ionss · iosn · oins
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ion" and "ions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ion" or "ions" show up more?
Useful next steps
"ion" and "ions" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "ion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ion" and "ions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ilona vs ions". 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 #299,925 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.