Which to use
“ilan” and “ile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,343
- “ilan” frequency rank
- #3,925
- “ile” frequency rank
- 43268
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ilan | ile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serpent. | Espace de terre entouré d’eau de tous côtés. |
Where the eye mixes ilan and ile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ilan with ile
A purely visual mix-up. ilan (\i.ˈlɑn\) and ile (\il\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ilan is recorded at frequency rank #39,343, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.ˈlɑn\. 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 43268, this pair ranks #219,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ilan vs ile
Shared letters: il. Private to "ilan": an. Private to "ile": e.
"ilan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ile" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ilan ← ialn · ilann · illan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ilan" for "ile" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ilan" vs "ile" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ilan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ilan" and "ile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ilan vs Ilona". 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 #219,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.