id vs ill, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“id” is a verb and “ill” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,418
“id” frequency rank: #43,059
“ill” frequency rank: 49477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	id	ill
Definition	Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del imperativo afirmativo de ir.	Enfermo.

Where the eye mixes id and ill

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

ill

Look-alike desk: id vs ill

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: id is [ˈið̞] while ill is /ɪl/. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

id is recorded at frequency rank #6,418, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈið̞]. ill is at rank #43,059, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪl/.

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 49477, this pair ranks #108,646 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of id vs ill

Shared letters: i. Private to "id": d. Private to "ill": l.

"id" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ill" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "id" and "ill" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "id" is a verb and "ill" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Spanish text, does "id" or "ill" show up more?

"id" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,418 in our Spanish list, against #43,059 for "ill". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "id" and "ill" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "id" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #108,646 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"id" and "ill" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ill vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #108,646 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.