ilanvsiraConfusable pair

Quick tell: ilan is a noun, ira is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ilan” is a noun and “ira” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,343
“ilan” frequency rank
#2,932
“ira” frequency rank
42275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ilan ira
Definition Serpent. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif futur simple de aller.

Where the eye mixes ilan and ira

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
ilan
3 ch
ira

Look-alike desk: ilan vs ira

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ilan is \i.ˈlɑn\ while ira is \i.ʁa\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42275, 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\. ira is at rank #2,932, tagged as averb, pronounced \i.ʁa\.

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 42275, this pair ranks #226,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ilan vs ira

Shared letters: ai. Private to "ilan": ln. Private to "ira": r.

"ilan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ira" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ilanialn · ilann · illan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ilan" for "ira" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ilan" is a noun and "ira" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ilan" or "ira" show up more?
"ira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,932 in our French list, against #39,343 for "ilan". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ilan" and "ira" 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 #226,847 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list