Which to use
“Island” is a name and “islands” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,845
- “Island” frequency rank
- #24,198
- “islands” frequency rank
- 34043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Island | islands |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Islandia. | Forma del plural de island. |
Where the eye mixes Island and islands
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Island runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against islands's 7 (VCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Island with islands
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Island is /ˈiz.lãnt/ while islands is /ˈaɪ̯.ləndz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Island” sits inside “islands”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Island is recorded at frequency rank #9,845, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈiz.lãnt/. islands is at rank #24,198, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ̯.ləndz/.
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 34043, this pair ranks #193,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Island vs islands
Shared letters: adilns. Private to "Island": -. Private to "islands": -.
"Island" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "islands" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Island" for "islands" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Island" or "islands"?
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 "Island" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "islands" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Island" and "islands" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "islandés vs islands". 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 #193,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.