Which to use
“ies” is a noun and “il” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,358
- “ies” frequency rank
- #18
- “il” frequency rank
- 25376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ies | il |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ie. | Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier masculin (utilisé exclusivement en tant que sujet). Désigne une personne, un animal ou une chose dont le genre est masculin. |
Where the eye mixes ies and il
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between ies and il
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ies is \je\ while il 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 25376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ies is recorded at frequency rank #25,358, classified as anoun, pronounced \je\. il is at rank #18, 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 25376, this pair ranks #341,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ies vs il
Shared letters: i. Private to "ies": es. Private to "il": l.
"ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "il" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ies" for "il" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ies" or "il" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "il" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #341,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ies" and "il" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs isi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #341,237 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.