Which to use
“ice” is a noun and “ici” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,198
- “ice” frequency rank
- #45,880
- “ici” frequency rank
- 56078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ice | ici |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gelo | aqui |
Where the eye mixes ice and ici
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ice and ici follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: ice vs ici
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ice is /ˈɑɪs/ while ici is \i.si\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “ice” becomes i in “ici”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ice is recorded at frequency rank #10,198, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑɪs/. ici is at rank #45,880, tagged as anadv, pronounced \i.si\.
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 56078, this pair ranks #10,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ice vs ici
Shared letters: ci. Private to "ice": e. Private to "ici": -.
"ice" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ici" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ice" and "ici" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ice" vs "ici" - which ranks higher?
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 "ice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ici" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ice" and "ici" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ici vs ino". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #10,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.