Which to use
“ils” is a pronoun and “isla” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #54
- “ils” frequency rank
- #36,015
- “isla” frequency rank
- 36069
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ils | isla |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Île. |
Where the eye mixes ils and isla
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ils with isla
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ils is \il\ while isla is \ˈis.la\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ils is recorded at frequency rank #54, classified as apron, 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 36069, this pair ranks #272,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ils vs isla
Shared letters: ils. Private to "ils": -. Private to "isla": a.
"ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "isla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- isla ← isal · islla · issla · sila
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ils" and "isla" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ils" or "isla"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ils" 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 #272,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ils" 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 #272,219 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.