Which to use
“il” is a pronoun and “ile” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18
- “il” frequency rank
- #3,925
- “ile” frequency rank
- 3943
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | il | ile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Espace de terre entouré d’eau de tous côtés. |
Same sound, different letters: il vs ile
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: il and ile carry the same recorded pronunciation, \il\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is apronoun, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “il” sits inside “ile”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
il is recorded at frequency rank #18, classified as apron, pronounced \il\. ile is at rank #3,925, tagged as anoun, 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 3943, this pair ranks #432,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of il vs ile
Shared letters: il. Private to "il": -. Private to "ile": e.
"il" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ile" · 3 letters · shape VCV