ir vs ito, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#14,065
“ir” frequency rank: #42,956
“ito” frequency rank: 57021
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ir	ito
Definition	Aller, se déplacer jusqu'à un endroit.	(se) Noyer, (s') asphyxier, (s') étouffer.

Letter map: ir vs ito

Shared letters muted; letters that set ir and ito apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

3 ch

ito

Corpus notes: ir and ito

ir and ito are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57021, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ir is recorded at frequency rank #14,065, classified as averb, pronounced \iɾ\. ito is at rank #42,956, tagged as averb.

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 57021, this pair ranks #117,507 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ir vs ito

Shared letters: i. Private to "ir": r. Private to "ito": ot.

"ir" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ito" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ir" and "ito" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

In ordinary French text, does "ir" or "ito" show up more?

"ir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,065 in our French list, against #42,956 for "ito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "ir" vs "ito" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "ir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #117,507 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ir" and "ito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs ito". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #117,507 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.