im vs ist, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#10,152
“im” frequency rank: #41,994
“ist” frequency rank: 52146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	im	ist
Definition	Mi.	Tercera persona del singular (er, sie, es) del presente de indicativo de sein.

Letter map: im vs ist

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

2 ch

3 ch

ist

Role in the sentence - im and ist

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: im is anadjective and istaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

im is recorded at frequency rank #10,152, classified as anadj. ist is at rank #41,994, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪst/.

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 52146, this pair ranks #94,135 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of im vs ist

Shared letters: i. Private to "im": m. Private to "ist": st.

"im" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ist" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "im" and "ist" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Which is more common, "im" or "ist"?

"im" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,152 in our Spanish list, against #41,994 for "ist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "im" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #94,135 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"im" and "ist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ist vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #94,135 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.