Which to use
“ie” and “item” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,130
- “ie” frequency rank
- #7,934
- “item” frequency rank
- 35064
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ie | item |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | água (H₂0). | uma unidade de uma lista ou conjunto |
Where the eye mixes ie and item
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ie and item
A purely visual mix-up. ie (/ˈi.e/, /ˈi.ɛ/) and item (/'i.tẽj̃/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35064, 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/. item is at rank #7,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'i.tẽj̃/.
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 35064, this pair ranks #32,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ie vs item
Shared letters: ei. Private to "ie": -. Private to "item": mt.
"ie" · 2 letters · shape VV · "item" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- item ← ietm · itemm · itme · ittem · tiem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ie" and "item" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ie" vs "item" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "item" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ie" and "item" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ie vs ino". 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 #32,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.