islavsislandWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“isla” and “island” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,015
“isla” frequency rank
#6,406
“island” frequency rank
42421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature isla island
Definition Île. Île.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set isla and island apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
isla
6 ch
island

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. isla (\ˈis.la\) and island (\ˈaɪ.lənd\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “isla” sits inside “island”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

isla is recorded at frequency rank #36,015, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈis.la\. island is at rank #6,406, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈaɪ.lənd\.

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 42421, this pair ranks #225,734 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of isla vs island

Shared letters: ails. Private to "isla": -. Private to "island": dn.

"isla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "island" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • islaisal · islla · issla · sila
  • islandilsand · isalnd · isladn · islandd · islannd · islland · islnad · issland

Frequency comparison

isla#36,015
island#6,406

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "isla" and "island" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈis.la\ versus \ˈaɪ.lənd\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "isla" or "island"?
"island" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,406 in our French list, against #36,015 for "isla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering isla vs island

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “isla” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list