ilsvsIsisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ils is a pronoun, Isis is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ils” is a pronoun and “Isis” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#54
“ils” frequency rank
#16,658
“Isis” frequency rank
16712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ils Isis
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. Nom grec d’Aset, grande déesse de la mythologie égyptienne, fille de Geb et de Nout (eux-mêmes enfants de Rê), épouse d’Ausarê (Osiris) et mère de Hor (Horus le jeune).

Where the eye mixes ils and Isis

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

3 ch
ils
4 ch
Isis

Look-alike desk: ils vs Isis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ils is \il\ while Isis is \i.zis\. 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 (pronoun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ils is recorded at frequency rank #54, classified as apron, pronounced \il\. Isis is at rank #16,658, tagged as aname, pronounced \i.zis\.

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 16712, this pair ranks #386,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ils vs Isis

Shared letters: is. Private to "ils": l. Private to "Isis": -.

"ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "Isis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Isisiiss · isiss · issi · issis · siis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ils" and "Isis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ils" is a pronoun and "Isis" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ils" vs "Isis" - which ranks higher?
"ils" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #54 in our French list, against #16,658 for "Isis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Isis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #386,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ils" and "Isis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs Isis". 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 #386,611 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