iotvsireWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,361
“iot” frequency rank
#23,590
“ire” frequency rank
62951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature iot ire
Definition Yacht. Colère.

Where the eye mixes iot and ire

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

3 ch
iot
3 ch
ire

Visual trap between iot and ire

A purely visual mix-up. iot ([ˈjɔt]) and ire (\iʁ\) 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 62951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

iot is recorded at frequency rank #39,361, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈjɔt]. ire is at rank #23,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced \iʁ\.

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 62951, this pair ranks #84,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of iot vs ire

Shared letters: i. Private to "iot": ot. Private to "ire": er.

"iot" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "iot" and "ire" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈjɔt] versus \iʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "iot" vs "ire" - which ranks higher?
"ire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,590 in our French list, against #39,361 for "iot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "iot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "iot" and "ire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "iot vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #84,390 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