ihn vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ihn” is a pronoun and “is” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#140
“ihn” frequency rank: #478
“is” frequency rank: 618
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ihn	is
Definition	Personalpronomen 3. Person Maskulinum Singular Akkusativ	[1] umgangssprachlich, dialektal, norddeutsch: 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes ihn and is

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

ihn

2 ch

Visual trap between ihn and is

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihn is [iːn] while is is [ɪs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihn is recorded at frequency rank #140, classified as apron, pronounced [iːn]. is is at rank #478, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɪs].

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 618, this pair ranks #2,005,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihn vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "ihn": hn. Private to "is": s.

"ihn" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "is" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihn" and "is" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ihn" is a pronoun and "is" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ihn" vs "is" - which ranks higher?

"ihn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #140 in our German list, against #478 for "is". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "ihn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "is" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #2,005,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ihn" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs is". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,005,605 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.