ice vs ie, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ice” and “ie” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,198
“ice” frequency rank: #27,130
“ie” frequency rank: 37328
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ice	ie
Definition	gelo	água (H₂0).

Where the eye mixes ice and ie

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

3 ch

ice

2 ch

Visual trap between ice and ie

A purely visual mix-up. ice (/ˈɑɪs/) and ie (/ˈi.e/, /ˈi.ɛ/) 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 37328, 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/. ie is at rank #27,130, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.e/, /ˈi.ɛ/.

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 37328, this pair ranks #29,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ice vs ie

Shared letters: ei. Private to "ice": c. Private to "ie": -.

"ice" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ie" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ice" for "ie" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈɑɪs/ versus /ˈi.e/, /ˈi.ɛ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ice" or "ie" show up more?

"ice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,198 in our Portuguese list, against #27,130 for "ie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ice" and "ie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "ice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #29,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ice" and "ie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ie vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #29,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.