ink vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#6,368
“ink” frequency rank: #8
“is” frequency rank: 6376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ink	is
Definition	A pigment (or dye)-based fluid used for writing, printing etc.	third-person singular simple present indicative of be

Where the eye mixes ink and is

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

3 ch

ink

2 ch

Why the eye confuses ink with is

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ink is /ˈɪŋk/ 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ink is recorded at frequency rank #6,368, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪŋk/. 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 6376, this pair ranks #511,675 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ink vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "ink": kn. Private to "is": s.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ink" and "is" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Which is more common, "ink" or "is"?

"is" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8 in our English list, against #6,368 for "ink". 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 "ink" 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 #511,675 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ink" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ink vs ith". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #511,675 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.