Which to use
“inns” is a noun and “its” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,838
- “inns” frequency rank
- #75
- “its” frequency rank
- 26913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inns | its |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of inn | Belonging to it. |
Where the eye mixes inns and its
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between inns and its
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inns is /ɪnz/ while its is /ɪts/. 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 determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inns is recorded at frequency rank #26,838, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪnz/. its is at rank #75, tagged as adet, pronounced /ɪts/.
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 26913, this pair ranks #383,090 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of inns vs its
Shared letters: is. Private to "inns": n. Private to "its": t.
"inns" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "its" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- inns ← innss · insn · nins
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "inns" and "its" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "inns" or "its" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "inns" and "its" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "inns" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "its" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,090 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inns" and "its" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ices vs inns". 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 #383,090 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.