irevsivesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,590
“ire” frequency rank
#47,977
“ives” frequency rank
71567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ire ives
Definition Colère. Pluriel de ive.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ire and ives apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ire
4 ch
ives

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ire (\iʁ\) and ives (\iv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71567, 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\. ives is at rank #47,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \iv\.

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 71567, this pair ranks #47,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ire vs ives

Shared letters: ei. Private to "ire": r. Private to "ives": sv.

"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ives" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ivesievs · ivess · ivse

Frequency comparison

ire#23,590
ives#47,977

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ire" and "ives" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\iʁ\ versus \iv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ire" or "ives"?
"ire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,590 in our French list, against #47,977 for "ives". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ire vs ives

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ire” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list