ipsvsivyWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#38,871
“ips” frequency rank
#23,913
“ivy” frequency rank
62784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ips ivy
Definition Unité de mesure de la fréquence d’échantillonnage d’un film : nombre d’images qui défilent par seconde. Lierre.

Where the eye mixes ips and ivy

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

3 ch
ips
3 ch
ivy

Why the eye confuses ips with ivy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ips is \i.pe.ɛs\ while ivy is [ˈaɪ.vi]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62784, 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\. ivy is at rank #23,913, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ.vi].

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 62784, this pair ranks #85,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ips vs ivy

Shared letters: i. Private to "ips": ps. Private to "ivy": vy.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ips" for "ivy" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ips" is a symbol and "ivy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ips" or "ivy" show up more?
"ivy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,913 in our French list, against #38,871 for "ips". 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 "ips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ivy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #85,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ips" and "ivy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ips vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #85,311 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