ils

\il\

/\il\/ pron

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ils” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #54) as a pronoun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#54
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du pluriel sujet, quand on parle d’un groupe d’hommes et de femmes ou de choses grammaticalement masculines et féminines.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ils · ils · French

ils · rank #54 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #54
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH bien

Nearest frequency peer: bien (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “ils”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “ils” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ils vs it
33% similar
ils vs IP
0% similar
ils vs ix
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ils
PropertyValue
Headwordils
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPronoun
IPA\il\
Letters3
Frequency rank#54
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “ils” se place dans la fréquence du français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ilsse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « bien » (#53), « cette » (#55), « faire » (#56). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ils is neighbouring look-alikes ("it", "IP", …), not just typos; it is apronoun pronounced \il\. Frequency #54 among 3,561 “I” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

ils has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "it", "IP", "ix", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is ils, spelled I-L-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du pluriel sujet, quand on parle d’un groupe d’hommes et de femmes ou de choses grammaticalement masculines et féminines.
  2. 2
    Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du pluriel masculin sujet, quand on parle d’un groupe d’hommes ou de choses grammaticalement masculines.
  3. 3
    Pronom de la troisième personne du pluriel féminin sujet, quand on parle d’un groupe de femmes ou de choses grammaticalement féminines.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ils appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Sur deux sièges contigus sont assis Fulk Ephrinell et miss Horatia Bluett. Ils causent en crayonnant des chiffres.
  2. J’ai retrouvé ton frère et ta sœur ; ils étaient dans la chambre.

This word in other languages

they(English)ellos(Español)sie(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ils"?
"ils" is spelled I-L-S. The IPA pronunciation is \il\.
What does "ils" mean?
As a pronoun, "ils" means: Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du pluriel sujet, quand on parle d’un groupe d’hommes et de femmes ou de choses grammaticalement masculines et féminines.
What words are commonly confused with "ils"?
"ils" is commonly confused with "it", "IP", "ix". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ils"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ils" is \il\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ils" come from?
"ils" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ils", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

aux#58ont#61été#65mon#66

What to do next

You've looked up "ils". Here's where to go from here.

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list