illavsislamConfusable pair

Which to use

“illa” and “islam” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,407
“illa” frequency rank
#7,739
“islam” frequency rank
49146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature illa islam
Definition Isla. Religión monoteísta cuyo dios es Alá, del mismo tronco judeocristiano, que sigue las enseñanzas de Mahoma y que tiene sus principales lugares sagrados en La Meca, Medina y Jerusalén.

Where the eye mixes illa and islam

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
illa
5 ch
islam

Why the eye confuses illa with islam

A purely visual mix-up. illa ([ˈi.ʎə]) and islam ([isˈlãm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

illa is recorded at frequency rank #41,407, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈi.ʎə]. islam is at rank #7,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced [isˈlãm].

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 49146, this pair ranks #110,480 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of illa vs islam

Shared letters: ail. Private to "illa": -. Private to "islam": ms.

"illa" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "islam" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • illaila · ilal
  • islamilsam · isalm · islamm · isllam · islma · isslam · silam

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "illa" and "islam" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈi.ʎə] versus [isˈlãm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "illa" or "islam"?
"islam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,739 in our Spanish list, against #41,407 for "illa". 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 "illa" and "islam" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "illa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "islam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,480 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "illa" and "islam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "illa vs iza". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #110,480 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list