ill vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25,175
“ill” frequency rank: #478
“is” frequency rank: 25653
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ill	is
Definition	schlecht, falsch	[1] umgangssprachlich, dialektal, norddeutsch: 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes ill and is

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

3 ch

ill

2 ch

Why the eye confuses ill with is

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ill is [ɪl] 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ill is recorded at frequency rank #25,175, classified as anadv, pronounced [ɪl]. 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 25653, this pair ranks #1,830,021 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ill vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "ill": l. Private to "is": s.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"is" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #478 in our German list, against #25,175 for "ill". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "ill" 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 #1,830,021 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ill" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ill vs IMs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,830,021 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.