iosvsisoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,870
“ios” frequency rank
#12,181
“iso” frequency rank
21051
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ios iso
Definition Pluriel de io. Plan isométrique.

Where the eye mixes ios and iso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ios
3 ch
iso

Why the eye confuses ios with iso

A purely visual mix-up. ios (\jo\) and iso (\i.zo\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (os ↔ so) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21051, 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\. iso is at rank #12,181, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.zo\.

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 21051, this pair ranks #365,106 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ios vs iso

Shared letters: ios. Private to "ios": -. Private to "iso": -.

"ios" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "iso" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ios" and "iso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\jo\ versus \i.zo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ios" vs "iso" - which ranks higher?
"ios" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,870 in our French list, against #12,181 for "iso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ios" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "iso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #365,106 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ios" and "iso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs iso". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #365,106 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