ir vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#186
“ir” frequency rank: #2,727
“is” frequency rank: 2913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ir	is
Definition	Desplazarse de un lugar a otro.	Tercera persona del singular (he, she, it) del presente simple de be.

Where the eye mixes ir and is

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

Why the eye confuses ir with is

A purely visual mix-up. ir ([ˈiɾ]) and is (/ɪz/) 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 a single letter - r in “ir” becomes s in “is”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ir is recorded at frequency rank #186, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈiɾ]. is is at rank #2,727, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪz/.

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 2913, this pair ranks #319,406 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ir vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "ir": r. Private to "is": s.

"ir" · 2 letters · shape VC · "is" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ir" and "is" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently ([ˈiɾ] versus /ɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ir" or "is"?

"ir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #186 in our Spanish list, against #2,727 for "is". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "ir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "is" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #319,406 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ir" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "is vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #319,406 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.