IRDvsireConfusable pair

Quick tell: IRD is a name, ire is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“IRD” is a name and “ire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,611
“IRD” frequency rank
#23,590
“ire” frequency rank
72201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature IRD ire
Definition Établissement public à caractère scientifique et technologique (EPST) français, sous la tutelle des ministères chargés de la Recherche et de la Coopération, remplaçant l’Office de la recherche scientifique et technique outre-mer (ORSTOM). Colère.

Letter map: IRD vs ire

Shared letters muted; letters that set IRD and ire apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
IRD
3 ch
ire

Role in the sentence - IRD and ire

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: IRD is aname and ireanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “IRD” becomes e in “ire”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

IRD is recorded at frequency rank #48,611, classified as aname. 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 72201, this pair ranks #44,838 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of IRD vs ire

Shared letters: ir. Private to "IRD": d. Private to "ire": e.

"IRD" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "IRD" for "ire" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "IRD" is a name and "ire" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "IRD" or "ire" show up more?
"ire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,590 in our French list, against #48,611 for "IRD". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "IRD" and "ire". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "IRD" 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 #44,838 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "IRD" and "ire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IRD vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,838 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