ile vs ir, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#3,925
“ile” frequency rank: #14,065
“ir” frequency rank: 17990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ile	ir
Definition	Espace de terre entouré d’eau de tous côtés.	Aller, se déplacer jusqu'à un endroit.

Where the eye mixes ile and ir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

ile

2 ch

Look-alike desk: ile vs ir

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ile is \il\ while ir is \iɾ\. 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 17990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ile is recorded at frequency rank #3,925, classified as anoun, pronounced \il\. ir is at rank #14,065, tagged as averb, pronounced \iɾ\.

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 17990, this pair ranks #380,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ile vs ir

Shared letters: i. Private to "ile": el. Private to "ir": r.

"ile" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ir" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ile" and "ir" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ile" is a noun and "ir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ile" vs "ir" - which ranks higher?

"ile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,925 in our French list, against #14,065 for "ir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "ile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #380,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ile" and "ir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ir vs isi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #380,514 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.