Which to use
“ills” is a noun and “is” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,587
- “ills” frequency rank
- #8
- “is” frequency rank
- 28595
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ills | is |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ill | third-person singular simple present indicative of be |
Where the eye mixes ills and is
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ills and is
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ills is /ɪlz/ while is is /ɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28595, 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/. is is at rank #8, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪz/.
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 28595, this pair ranks #369,822 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ills vs is
Shared letters: is. Private to "ills": l. Private to "is": -.
"ills" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "is" · 2 letters · shape VC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ills ← illss · ilsl · lils
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ills" and "is" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ills" or "is"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ills" and "is" 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 "is" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,822 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ills" and "is" 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 #369,822 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.