ill vs ius, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25,175
“ill” frequency rank: #48,256
“ius” frequency rank: 73431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ill	ius
Definition	schlecht, falsch	Recht (Satzung, Inbegriff von Gesetzen und Verordnungen)

Letter map: ill vs ius

Shared letters muted; letters that set ill and ius apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. ill (VCC) and ius (VVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch

ill

3 ch

ius

Role in the sentence - ill and ius

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ill is anadverb and iusanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73431, 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]. ius is at rank #48,256, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 73431, this pair ranks #360,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ill vs ius

Shared letters: i. Private to "ill": l. Private to "ius": su.

"ill" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ius" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ill" for "ius" ever safe?

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

In ordinary German text, does "ill" or "ius" show up more?

"ill" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,175 in our German list, against #48,256 for "ius". 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 "ill" and "ius". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "ill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ius" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #360,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ill" and "ius" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ius vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #360,593 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.