iosvsIRMTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,870
“ios” frequency rank
#17,979
“IRM” frequency rank
26849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ios IRM
Definition Pluriel de io. Technique d’imagerie médicale permettant l’analyse fine du corps humain par l’action d’un champ magnétique et d’ondes radio.

Where the eye mixes ios and IRM

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

3 ch
ios
3 ch
IRM

Why the eye confuses ios with IRM

A purely visual mix-up. ios (\jo\) and IRM (\i.ɛ.ʁɛm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ios is recorded at frequency rank #8,870, classified as anoun, pronounced \jo\. IRM is at rank #17,979, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.ɛ.ʁɛm\.

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 26849, this pair ranks #332,486 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ios vs IRM

Shared letters: i. Private to "ios": os. Private to "IRM": mr.

"ios" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "IRM" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ios" and "IRM" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\jo\ versus \i.ɛ.ʁɛm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ios" vs "IRM" - which ranks higher?
"ios" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,870 in our French list, against #17,979 for "IRM". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ios" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "IRM" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #332,486 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ios" and "IRM" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IRM vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #332,486 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