Which to use
“ides” and “ills” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,856
- “ides” frequency rank
- #28,587
- “ills” frequency rank
- 73443
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ides | ills |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The notional full-moon day of a Roman month, occurring on the 15th day of the four original 31-day months (March, May, Quintilis or July, and October) and on the 13th day of all other months. | plural of ill |
Where the eye mixes ides and ills
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ides (VCVC) and ills (VCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: ides vs ills
A purely visual mix-up. ides (/aɪdz/) and ills (/ɪlz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ides is recorded at frequency rank #44,856, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɪdz/. ills is at rank #28,587, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪlz/.
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 73443, this pair ranks #39,608 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ides vs ills
Shared letters: is. Private to "ides": de. Private to "ills": l.
"ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ills" · 4 letters · shape VCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ides" and "ills" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ides" vs "ills" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ides" and "ills" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ills" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,608 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ides" and "ills" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ices vs ides". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #39,608 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.