Which to use
“isles” and “issues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,912
- “isles” frequency rank
- #6,211
- “issues” frequency rank
- 43123
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | isles | issues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de isle. | Produits de la mouture des céréales, hormis la farine : son, recoupe, remoulage, etc. |
Where the eye mixes isles and issues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between isles and issues
A purely visual mix-up. isles (\il\) and issues (\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 43123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
isles is recorded at frequency rank #36,912, classified as anoun, pronounced \il\. issues is at rank #6,211, 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 43123, this pair ranks #220,448 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of isles vs issues
Shared letters: eis. Private to "isles": l. Private to "issues": u.
"isles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "issues" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "isles" and "issues" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "isles" or "issues"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "isles" and "issues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "isles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "issues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #220,448 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "isles" and "issues" 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 #220,448 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.