illavsitaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,407
“illa” frequency rank
#38,192
“ita” frequency rank
79599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature illa ita
Definition Isla. Piedra, así

Where the eye mixes illa and ita

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. illa runs 4 letters (VCCV) against ita's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
illa
3 ch
ita

Look-alike desk: illa vs ita

A purely visual mix-up. illa ([ˈi.ʎə]) and ita ([iˈta]) 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 79599, 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]. ita is at rank #38,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced [iˈta].

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 79599, this pair ranks #12,764 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of illa vs ita

Shared letters: ai. Private to "illa": l. Private to "ita": t.

"illa" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ita" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • illa ← ila · ilal

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "illa" and "ita" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈi.ʎə] versus [iˈta]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "illa" or "ita" show up more?
"ita" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,192 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.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "illa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ita" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,764 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "illa" and "ita" 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 #12,764 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