idvsistWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: id is a unknown, ist is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“id” is an unknown and “ist” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,272
“id” frequency rank
#7
“ist” frequency rank
5279
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature id ist
Definition [1] Nominativ Singular Neutrum des Pronomens is 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Letter map: id vs ist

Shared letters muted; letters that set id and ist apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
id
3 ch
ist

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: id is anunknown and istaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

id is recorded at frequency rank #5,272, classified as anunknown, pronounced […]. ist is at rank #7, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɪst].

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 5279, this pair ranks #1,995,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of id vs ist

Shared letters: i. Private to "id": d. Private to "ist": st.

"id" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "ist" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "id" and "ist" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "id" is an unknown and "ist" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "id" or "ist"?
"ist" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7 in our German list, against #5,272 for "id". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list