ilesvsitemTell them apart

Quick tell: iles is a noun, item is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“iles” is a noun and “item” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,699
“iles” frequency rank
#19,048
“item” frequency rank
33747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature iles item
Definition Parties latérales et inférieures du bas-ventre. De même, également.

Where the eye mixes iles and item

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

4 ch
iles
4 ch
item

Look-alike desk: iles vs item

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: iles is \i.lɛs\ while item is \i.tɛm\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

iles is recorded at frequency rank #14,699, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.lɛs\. item is at rank #19,048, tagged as anadv, pronounced \i.tɛm\.

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 33747, this pair ranks #288,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of iles vs item

Shared letters: ei. Private to "iles": ls. Private to "item": mt.

"iles" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "item" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ilesiels · iless · illes
  • itemietm · itemm · ittem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "iles" and "item" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "iles" is a noun and "item" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "iles" or "item"?
"iles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,699 in our French list, against #19,048 for "item". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "iles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "item" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #288,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "iles" and "item" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs item". 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 #288,538 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