ihr vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#72
“ihr” frequency rank: #478
“is” frequency rank: 550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ihr	is
Definition	2. Person Plural	[1] umgangssprachlich, dialektal, norddeutsch: 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes ihr and is

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

3 ch

ihr

2 ch

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihr is [iːɐ̯] 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 550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihr is recorded at frequency rank #72, classified as apron, pronounced [iːɐ̯]. 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 550, this pair ranks #2,005,703 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihr vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "ihr": hr. Private to "is": s.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

Which is more common, "ihr" or "is"?

"ihr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #72 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.

What to do next

You've compared "ihr" and "is". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "ihr" 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 #2,005,703 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ihr" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs is". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.