ipsvsiraWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ips is a symbol, ira is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ips” is a symbol and “ira” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,871
“ips” frequency rank
#2,932
“ira” frequency rank
41803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ips ira
Definition Unité de mesure de la fréquence d’échantillonnage d’un film : nombre d’images qui défilent par seconde. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif futur simple de aller.

Where the eye mixes ips and ira

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

3 ch
ips
3 ch
ira

Look-alike desk: ips vs ira

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ips is \i.pe.ɛs\ while ira is \i.ʁa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (symbol vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ips is recorded at frequency rank #38,871, classified as asymbol, pronounced \i.pe.ɛs\. ira is at rank #2,932, tagged as averb, pronounced \i.ʁa\.

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 41803, this pair ranks #230,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ips vs ira

Shared letters: i. Private to "ips": ps. Private to "ira": ar.

"ips" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ira" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ips" for "ira" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ips" is a symbol and "ira" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ips" vs "ira" - which ranks higher?
"ira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,932 in our French list, against #38,871 for "ips". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ips" and "ira" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ips" and "ira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ips vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #230,391 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