Which to use
“ilan” is a noun and “ill” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,343
- “ilan” frequency rank
- #15,649
- “ill” frequency rank
- 54992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ilan | ill |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serpent. | Malade, malsain. |
Where the eye mixes ilan and ill
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ilan vs ill
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ilan is \i.ˈlɑn\ while ill is \ˈɪl\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54992, 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\. ill is at rank #15,649, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈɪl\.
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 54992, this pair ranks #130,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ilan vs ill
Shared letters: il. Private to "ilan": an. Private to "ill": -.
"ilan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ill" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ilan ← ialn · ilann · illan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ilan" for "ill" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ilan" or "ill" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ilan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ilan" and "ill" 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 #130,334 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.