iraivsIRCTell them apart

Quick tell: irai is a verb, IRC is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“irai” is a verb and “IRC” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,994
“irai” frequency rank
#33,314
“IRC” frequency rank
39308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature irai IRC
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif futur simple de aller. Protocole de communication textuelle instantanée utilisé sur Internet, créé en 1988 par un étudiant de l’université d’Oulu, en Finlande.

Where the eye mixes irai and IRC

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

4 ch
irai
3 ch
IRC

Why the eye confuses irai with IRC

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: irai is \i.ʁe\ while IRC is \i ɛʁ se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

irai is recorded at frequency rank #5,994, classified as averb, pronounced \i.ʁe\. IRC is at rank #33,314, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i ɛʁ se\.

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 39308, this pair ranks #248,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of irai vs IRC

Shared letters: ir. Private to "irai": a. Private to "IRC": c.

"irai" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "IRC" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • iraiiari · iria · irrai · riai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "irai" for "IRC" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "irai" is a verb and "IRC" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "irai" or "IRC"?
"irai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,994 in our French list, against #33,314 for "IRC". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "irai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "IRC" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "irai" and "IRC" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IRC vs isi". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #248,985 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