IndvsisTell them apart

Quick tell: Ind is a name, is is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ind” is a name and “is” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,538
“Ind” frequency rank
#8
“is” frequency rank
13546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ind is
Definition India; the East. third-person singular simple present indicative of be

Where the eye mixes Ind and is

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Ind
2 ch
is

Visual trap between Ind and is

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ind is /ɪnd/ while is is /ɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ind is recorded at frequency rank #13,538, classified as aname, pronounced /ɪnd/. 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 13546, this pair ranks #475,162 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ind vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "Ind": dn. Private to "is": s.

"Ind" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "is" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ind" and "is" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ind" is a name and "is" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ind" or "is"?
"is" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8 in our English list, against #13,538 for "Ind". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ind" 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 #475,162 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ind" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ind vs ith". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #475,162 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list