Which to use
“isle” and “issue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,988
- “isle” frequency rank
- #1,921
- “issue” frequency rank
- 13909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | isle | issue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Île. | Sortie, lieu par où l’on sort. |
Where the eye mixes isle and issue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses isle with issue
A purely visual mix-up. isle (\il\) and issue (\i.sy\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
isle is recorded at frequency rank #11,988, classified as anoun, pronounced \il\. issue is at rank #1,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.sy\.
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 13909, this pair ranks #398,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of isle vs issue
Shared letters: eis. Private to "isle": l. Private to "issue": u.
"isle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "issue" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "isle" and "issue" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "isle" or "issue"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "isle" and "issue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "isle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "issue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "isle" and "issue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs isle". 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 #398,998 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.