II

noun

"ii" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“II” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,020) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,020
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of illegal immigrant.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ii · II · English

II · rank #1,020 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,020
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH funny

Nearest frequency peer: funny (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “II”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “II” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

II vs in
0% similar
II vs is
0% similar
II vs it
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for II
PropertyValue
HeadwordII
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters2
Frequency rank#1,020
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “II”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).IIlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “funny” (#1,019), “limited” (#1,021), “eye” (#1,018). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “II” is #1,020. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for II is neighbouring look-alikes ("in", "is", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #1,020 among 2,140 “I” headwords. Gloss: "Initialism of illegal immigrant.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for II in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "in", "is", "it", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is II, spelled I-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Initialism of illegal immigrant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how II appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “When I came here eight years ago, it was easy to spot an II (illegal immigrant),” one British official here said. “They came across in dark navy clothes. Now, they come in designer T-shirts and Levis, and it’s hard to tell them from residents of Hong Kong.”
  2. Hong Kong can also follow the international trend of phasing out the rule that a child born by an II will automatically be granted citizenship of the place where he or she is born, in order to eradicate the problems of stowaways and II children.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "II"?
"II" is spelled I-I.
What does "II" mean?
As a noun, "II" means: Initialism of illegal immigrant.
What words are commonly confused with "II"?
"II" is commonly confused with "in", "is", "it". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "II" come from?
"II" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list