Which to use
“island” is a noun and “Islands” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,052
- “island” frequency rank
- #3,004
- “Islands” frequency rank
- 4056
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | island | Islands |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water. | A district of Hong Kong. |
Letter map: island vs Islands
Shared letters muted; letters that set island and Islands apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. island runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against Islands's 7 (VCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - island and Islands
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: island is anoun and Islandsaname. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “island” sits inside “Islands”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
island is recorded at frequency rank #1,052, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪlənd/. Islands is at rank #3,004, tagged as aname.
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 4056, this pair ranks #520,136 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of island vs Islands
Shared letters: adilns. Private to "island": -. Private to "Islands": -.
"island" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "Islands" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "island" for "Islands" ever safe?
Which is more common, "island" or "Islands"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "island" and "Islands".
- Full dictionary entry for "island" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Islands" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #520,136 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "island" and "Islands" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ilan vs island". 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 #520,136 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.