ills

/ɪlz/

//ɪlz// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"ills" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ills” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #28,587) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#28,587
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - plural of ill

Corpus desk

Index EN-ills · ills · English

ills · rank #28,587 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,587
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH immunization

Nearest frequency peer: immunization (+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 “ills”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “ills” 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).

ills vs is
50% similar
ills vs its
50% similar
ills vs iOS
25% similar

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

Key facts for ills
PropertyValue
Headwordills
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɪlz/
Letters4
Frequency rank#28,587
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “ills”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).illslands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “immunization” (#28,588), “Huxley” (#28,585), “implantation” (#28,589). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “ills” is #28,587. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ills is neighbouring look-alikes ("is", "its", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ɪlz/. Frequency #28,587 among 2,140 “I” headwords. Gloss: "plural of ill".

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for ills, with forms such as "illss", "ilsl", and "lils". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "is", "its", "iOS", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is ills, spelled I-L-L-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    plural of ill

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • illss
  • ilsl
  • lils

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ills - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

illss1ilsl2lils2
Edit distance from "ills"

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 "ills"?
"ills" is spelled I-L-L-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪlz/.
What does "ills" mean?
As a noun, "ills" means: plural of ill
What words are commonly confused with "ills"?
"ills" is commonly confused with "is", "its", "iOS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ills"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ills" is /ɪlz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ills" come from?
"ills" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ills", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hula#28,583Inca#28,593kush#28,607Macy#28,615

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list