Which to use
“ides” is a noun and “ils” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,389
- “ides” frequency rank
- #54
- “ils” frequency rank
- 42443
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ides | ils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le quinzième jour des mois de mars, de mai, de juillet et d’octobre dans le calendrier des anciens Romains, et le treizième des autres mois. | 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. |
Where the eye mixes ides and ils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ides and ils
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ides is \id\ while ils is \il\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ides is recorded at frequency rank #42,389, classified as anoun, pronounced \id\. ils is at rank #54, tagged as apron, pronounced \il\.
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 42443, this pair ranks #225,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ides vs ils
Shared letters: is. Private to "ides": de. Private to "ils": l.
"ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ides ← iddes · idess · ieds
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ides" and "ils" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "ides" or "ils" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ides" and "ils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ides vs ime". 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 #225,567 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.