Which to use
“Ilan” is a name and “ill” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,996
- “Ilan” frequency rank
- #1,946
- “ill” frequency rank
- 51942
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ilan | ill |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A male given name from Hebrew. | Evil; wicked (of people). |
Letter map: Ilan vs ill
Shared letters muted; letters that set Ilan and ill apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: Ilan vs ill
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Ilan is aname and illanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ilan is recorded at frequency rank #49,996, classified as aname. ill is at rank #1,946, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪl/.
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 51942, this pair ranks #161,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Ilan vs ill
Shared letters: il. Private to "Ilan": an. Private to "ill": -.
"Ilan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ill" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Ilan ← ialn · ilann · illan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ilan" for "ill" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "Ilan" or "ill" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Ilan" and "ill".
- Full dictionary entry for "Ilan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ilan" and "ill" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ilan vs Irfan". 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 #161,223 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.