ionvsIPWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ion” and “IP” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,064
“ion” frequency rank
#8,871
“IP” frequency rank
22935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ion IP
Definition Atome ou molécule ayant perdu ou gagné des électrons sur sa couche externe. Ensemble de règles décrivant les adresses du réseau, qui permet un service d’adressage unique pour l’ensemble des terminaux connectés à l’internet.

Where the eye mixes ion and IP

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ion
2 ch
IP

Look-alike desk: ion vs IP

A purely visual mix-up. ion (\jɔ̃\) and IP (\i.pe\) 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 22935, 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\. IP is at rank #8,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.pe\.

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 22935, this pair ranks #355,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ion vs IP

Shared letters: i. Private to "ion": no. Private to "IP": p.

"ion" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "IP" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ion" for "IP" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\jɔ̃\ versus \i.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ion" vs "IP" - which ranks higher?
"IP" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,871 in our French list, against #14,064 for "ion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "IP" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #355,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ion" and "IP" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ion vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #355,268 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list