ill

/ɪl/

//ɪl// adj

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

The verdict

“ill” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #43,059) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#43,059
frequency rank, Spanish
3,428
“I” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Enfermo.

Corpus desk

Index ES-ill · ill · Spanish

ill · rank #43,059 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,059
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,428
  • PHOTO-FINISH impactada

Nearest frequency peer: impactada (+1 rank slots)

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.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “ill”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “ill” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

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).

ill vs ir
33% similar
ill vs is
33% similar
ill vs it
33% similar

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

Key facts for ill
PropertyValue
Headwordill
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ɪl/
Letters3
Frequency rank#43,059
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “ill”

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.illcae aquí:

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

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “impactada” (#43,060), “hut” (#43,057), “imputaciones” (#43,061). Entre 3,428 lemas con “I”, “ill” va en #43,059. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ill is neighbouring look-alikes ("ir", "is", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ɪl/. Frequency #43,059 among 3,428 “I” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for ill in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ir", "is", "it", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct Spanish form is ill, spelled I-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Enfermo.
  2. 2
    Insatisfactorio, fallido.
  3. 3
    Hostil, odioso.
  4. 4
    Adverso, desfavorable.
  5. 5
    Malo.

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ill"?
"ill" is spelled I-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪl/.
What does "ill" mean?
As an adjective, "ill" means: Enfermo.
What words are commonly confused with "ill"?
"ill" is commonly confused with "ir", "is", "it". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ill"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ill" is /ɪl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ill" come from?
"ill" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hut#43,057Ius#43,081ger#43,033ort#43,156

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list