Which to use
“il” is a pronoun and “isle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18
- “il” frequency rank
- #11,988
- “isle” frequency rank
- 12006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | il | isle |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Île. |
Same sound, different letters: il vs isle
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Homophone desk: il vs isle
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: il and isle 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
il is recorded at frequency rank #18, classified as apron, pronounced \il\. isle is at rank #11,988, 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 12006, this pair ranks #406,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of il vs isle
Shared letters: il. Private to "il": -. Private to "isle": es.
"il" · 2 letters · shape VC · "isle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- isle ← isel · islle · issle · sile
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "il" and "isle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "il" vs "isle" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"il" and "isle" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "il" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "isle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "il" and "isle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs isle". 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 #406,938 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.