ill
[ɪl]
The verdict
“ill” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #25,175 in German word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #25,175
- frequency rank, German
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - schlecht, falsch
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ill |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | [ɪl] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #25,175 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ill” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for ill is 3 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ɪl]. Corpus data places it at rank #25,175 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ill, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "im", "is", "IT", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is ill, spelled I-L-L.
Definition
- 1schlecht, falsch
- 2unvorteilhaft
- 3nur mit Schwierigkeit, knapp, geradeso
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ill”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is I-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ɪl] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “im” - see the side-by-side comparison. ill vs im
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.