IvanvsIvoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,180
“Ivan” frequency rank
#47,402
“Ivo” frequency rank
57582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ivan Ivo
Definition Prénom masculin d’origine slave. Yves.

Where the eye mixes Ivan and Ivo

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

4 ch
Ivan
3 ch
Ivo

Look-alike desk: Ivan vs Ivo

A purely visual mix-up. Ivan (\i.vɑ̃\) and Ivo (\i.vo\) 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 57582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ivan is recorded at frequency rank #10,180, classified as aname, pronounced \i.vɑ̃\. Ivo is at rank #47,402, tagged as aname, pronounced \i.vo\.

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 57582, this pair ranks #114,169 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ivan vs Ivo

Shared letters: iv. Private to "Ivan": an. Private to "Ivo": o.

"Ivan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Ivo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ivaniavn · ivann · ivna · ivvan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ivan" for "Ivo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\i.vɑ̃\ versus \i.vo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ivan" vs "Ivo" - which ranks higher?
"Ivan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,180 in our French list, against #47,402 for "Ivo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Ivan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ivo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,169 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ivan" and "Ivo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs Ivo". 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 #114,169 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