Which to use
“ire” is a noun and “item” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,590
- “ire” frequency rank
- #19,048
- “item” frequency rank
- 42638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ire | item |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Colère. | De même, également. |
Where the eye mixes ire and item
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ire vs item
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ire is \iʁ\ while item is \i.tɛm\. 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ire is recorded at frequency rank #23,590, classified as anoun, pronounced \iʁ\. item is at rank #19,048, tagged as anadv, pronounced \i.tɛm\.
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 42638, this pair ranks #224,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ire vs item
Shared letters: ei. Private to "ire": r. Private to "item": mt.
"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "item" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- item ← ietm · itemm · ittem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ire" and "item" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ire" or "item" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "item" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #224,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ire" and "item" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ire 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 #224,100 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.