Which to use
“ie” is a noun and “ir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,130
- “ie” frequency rank
- #162
- “ir” frequency rank
- 27292
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ie | ir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | água (H₂0). | mover-se de um lugar para outro |
Letter map: ie vs ir
Shared letters muted; letters that set ie and ir apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for ie / ir
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ie is anoun and iraverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “ie” becomes r in “ir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ie is recorded at frequency rank #27,130, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.e/, /ˈi.ɛ/. ir is at rank #162, tagged as averb.
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 27292, this pair ranks #41,707 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ie vs ir
Shared letters: i. Private to "ie": e. Private to "ir": r.
"ie" · 2 letters · shape VV · "ir" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ie" and "ir" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ie" vs "ir" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ie" and "ir".
- Full dictionary entry for "ie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,707 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ie" and "ir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ie vs ino". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #41,707 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.