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 eye mixes ire and ives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ire runs 3 letters (VCV) against ives's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ire vs ives
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
- ives ← ievs · ivess · ivse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ire" for "ives" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ire" vs "ives" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ire" and "ives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs ives". 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 #47,103 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.