ilovsimWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ilo is a noun, im is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ilo” is a noun and “im” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,641
“ilo” frequency rank
#10,152
“im” frequency rank
53793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ilo im
Definition Herramienta Mi.

Letter map: ilo vs im

Shared letters muted; letters that set ilo and im apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ilo
2 ch
im

Part-of-speech tell for ilo / im

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ilo is anoun and imanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ilo is recorded at frequency rank #43,641, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈilo/. im is at rank #10,152, tagged as anadj.

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 53793, this pair ranks #86,177 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ilo vs im

Shared letters: i. Private to "ilo": lo. Private to "im": m.

"ilo" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "im" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ilo" and "im" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ilo" is a noun and "im" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ilo" or "im"?
"im" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,152 in our Spanish list, against #43,641 for "ilo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "ilo" and "im". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ilo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "im" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,177 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ilo" and "im" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ilo vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #86,177 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