ill vs ir, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#43,059
“ill” frequency rank: #186
“ir” frequency rank: 43245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ill	ir
Definition	Enfermo.	Desplazarse de un lugar a otro.

Where the eye mixes ill and ir

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

3 ch

ill

2 ch

Look-alike desk: ill vs ir

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ill is /ɪl/ while ir is [ˈiɾ]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ill is recorded at frequency rank #43,059, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪl/. ir is at rank #186, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈiɾ].

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 43245, this pair ranks #143,734 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ill vs ir

Shared letters: i. Private to "ill": l. Private to "ir": r.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ill" for "ir" ever safe?

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

Which is more common, "ill" or "ir"?

"ir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #186 in our Spanish list, against #43,059 for "ill". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "ill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #143,734 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ill" and "ir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ill vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #143,734 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.