ile vs ith, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ile” is a noun and “ith” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,534
“ile” frequency rank: #49,435
“ith” frequency rank: 83969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ile	ith
Definition	Alternative form of ail (“awn”).	Occurring at position i in a sequence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ile and ith apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

ile

3 ch

ith

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ile is /aɪl/ while ith is /aɪθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ile is recorded at frequency rank #34,534, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɪl/. ith is at rank #49,435, tagged as anadj, pronounced /aɪθ/.

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 83969, this pair ranks #12,839 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ile vs ith

Shared letters: i. Private to "ile": el. Private to "ith": ht.

"ile" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ith" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequency comparison

ile#34,534

ith#49,435

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ile" and "ith" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "ile" or "ith"?

"ile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,534 in our English list, against #49,435 for "ith". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ile vs ith

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ile”; for an adjective, it's “ith”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ile” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable