ida vs ilha, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ida” and “ilha” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,206
“ida” frequency rank: #1,012
“ilha” frequency rank: 6218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ida	ilha
Definition	ação, ato ou movimento de ir	porção de terra emersa cercada de água

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ida and ilha apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

ida

4 ch

ilha

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ida (/ˈi.dɐ/) and ilha (/ˈi.ʎɐ/) 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 6218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ida is recorded at frequency rank #5,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.dɐ/. ilha is at rank #1,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.ʎɐ/.

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 6218, this pair ranks #68,255 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ida vs ilha

Shared letters: ai. Private to "ida": d. Private to "ilha": hl.

"ida" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ilha" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

ilha ← ihla · ilah · ilhha · illha · liha

Frequency comparison

ida#5,206

ilha#1,012

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ida" and "ilha" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈi.dɐ/ versus /ˈi.ʎɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ida" or "ilha"?

"ilha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,012 in our Portuguese list, against #5,206 for "ida". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ida vs ilha

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 “ida” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable