Which to use
“ill” and “its” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,059
- “ill” frequency rank
- #18,002
- “its” frequency rank
- 61061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ill | its |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enfermo. | Su, sus; que pertenece a un animal o una cosa. |
Where the eye mixes ill and its
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ill with its
A purely visual mix-up. ill (/ɪl/) and its (/ɪts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61061, 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/. its is at rank #18,002, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪts/.
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 61061, this pair ranks #56,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ill vs its
Shared letters: i. Private to "ill": l. Private to "its": st.
"ill" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "its" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ill" and "its" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ill" vs "its" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "its" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ill" and "its" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ill vs iza". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #56,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.