Which to use
“ilan” and “ima” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,343
- “ilan” frequency rank
- #36,435
- “ima” frequency rank
- 75778
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ilan | ima |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serpent. | Maison. |
Where the eye mixes ilan and ima
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ilan with ima
A purely visual mix-up. ilan (\i.ˈlɑn\) and ima (\ima\) 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 75778, 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\. ima is at rank #36,435, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ima\.
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 75778, this pair ranks #33,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ilan vs ima
Shared letters: ai. Private to "ilan": ln. Private to "ima": m.
"ilan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ima" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ilan ← ialn · ilann · illan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ilan" for "ima" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ilan" or "ima" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ilan" and "ima" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ilan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ima" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ilan" and "ima" 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 #33,037 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.