Which to use
“ills” and “iris” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,587
- “ills” frequency rank
- #10,228
- “iris” frequency rank
- 38815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ills | iris |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ill | A plant of the genus Iris, common in the northern hemisphere, and generally having attractive blooms (See Iris (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia). |
Where the eye mixes ills and iris
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ills with iris
A purely visual mix-up. ills (/ɪlz/) and iris (/ˈaɪ.ɹɪs/) 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 38815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ills is recorded at frequency rank #28,587, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪlz/. iris is at rank #10,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.ɹɪs/.
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 38815, this pair ranks #282,451 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ills vs iris
Shared letters: is. Private to "ills": l. Private to "iris": r.
"ills" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "iris" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ills" and "iris" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ills" vs "iris" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ills" and "iris" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ills" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "iris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,451 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ills" and "iris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ilan vs ills". 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 #282,451 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.