Which to use
“ils” is a pronoun and “ira” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #54
- “ils” frequency rank
- #2,932
- “ira” frequency rank
- 2986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ils | ira |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du pluriel sujet, quand on parle d’un groupe d’hommes et de femmes ou de choses grammaticalement masculines et féminines. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif futur simple de aller. |
Where the eye mixes ils and ira
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between ils and ira
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ils is \il\ while ira is \i.ʁa\. 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 (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ils is recorded at frequency rank #54, classified as apron, pronounced \il\. 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 2986, this pair ranks #435,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ils vs ira
Shared letters: i. Private to "ils": ls. Private to "ira": ar.
"ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ira" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ils" and "ira" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ils" or "ira" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ils" and "ira" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ils" 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 #435,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ils" and "ira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ira vs isi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #435,054 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.