Which to use
“ill” is an adverb and “its” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,175
- “ill” frequency rank
- #9,388
- “its” frequency rank
- 34563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ill | its |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schlecht, falsch | sein |
Where the eye mixes ill and its
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ill with its
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ill is [ɪl] while its is [ɪts]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34563, 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]. its is at rank #9,388, tagged as apron, pronounced [ɪts].
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 34563, this pair ranks #1,660,409 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ill vs its
Shared letters: i. Private to "ill": l. Private to "its": st.
"ill" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "its" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ill" and "its" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ill" vs "its" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "its" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,660,409 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ill" and "its" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ill vs IMs". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,660,409 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.