Which to use
“ils” is a pronoun and “isles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #54
- “ils” frequency rank
- #36,912
- “isles” frequency rank
- 36966
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ils | isles |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Pluriel de isle. |
Same sound, different letters: ils vs isles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - ils / isles
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ils and isles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \il\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is apronoun, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ils is recorded at frequency rank #54, classified as apron, pronounced \il\. isles is at rank #36,912, tagged as anoun, pronounced \il\.
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 36966, this pair ranks #265,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ils vs isles
Shared letters: ils. Private to "ils": -. Private to "isles": e.
"ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "isles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- isles ← ilses · isels · isless · islles · islse · issles · siles
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ils" and "isles" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ils" vs "isles" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "ils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "isles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ils" and "isles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isles vs ives". 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 #265,834 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.