ilevsislaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ile” and “isla” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,925
“ile” frequency rank
#36,015
“isla” frequency rank
39940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ile isla
Definition Espace de terre entouré d’eau de tous côtés. Île.

Where the eye mixes ile and isla

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

3 ch
ile
4 ch
isla

Look-alike desk: ile vs isla

A purely visual mix-up. ile (\il\) and isla (\ˈis.la\) 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 39940, 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\. isla is at rank #36,015, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈis.la\.

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 39940, this pair ranks #244,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ile vs isla

Shared letters: il. Private to "ile": e. Private to "isla": as.

"ile" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "isla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • islaisal · islla · issla · sila

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ile" and "isla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\il\ versus \ˈis.la\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ile" vs "isla" - which ranks higher?
"ile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,925 in our French list, against #36,015 for "isla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "isla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ile" and "isla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs isla". 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 #244,223 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