Aisle or isle?
aisle is a noun meaning “A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by…”; isle is a noun meaning “An island, usually very small. Compare with islet”. They sound the same (/aɪ̯l/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) isle is about as common as aisle.
What is the difference between aisle and isle?
| aisle | isle | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers A clear path/passage through rows of seating | An island, usually very small. Compare with islet |
| Example | Do you want to seat window or aisle? | none recorded |
| Forms | aisles | isles |
| Pronunciation | /aɪ̯l/ | /aɪ̯l/ |
| In writing | 5.2 times per million words | 6.8 times per million words |
Sources: aisle and isle in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of aisle and isle
aisle
- 1
A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers
- 2
A clear path/passage through rows of seating
- 3
A clear corridor in a supermarket with shelves on both sides containing goods for sale
- 4
Any path through an otherwise obstructed space
- 5
Seat in public transport, such as a plane, train or bus, that's beside the aisle
Do you want to seat window or aisle?
- 6
USAn idiomatic divide between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, who are said to be on two sides of the aisle
- 7
The path of a wedding procession in a church or other venue; (by extension, metonymic) marriage
isle
- 1
An island, usually very small. Compare with islet
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, aisle or isle?
aisle appears 5.2 times per million words; isle 6.8 times per million words.
aisle 5.2 times per million wordsisle 6.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search aisle vs isle?
“aisle vs isle” is searched about 4,400 times a month on Google and 240 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“isle vs aisle”, “aisle or isle”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.