Which to use
“idle” is an adjective and “ils” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,937
- “idle” frequency rank
- #44,900
- “ils” frequency rank
- 88837
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | idle | ils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vazio, vago | eles |
Where the eye mixes idle and ils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between idle and ils
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: idle is /ˈaɪd(ə)l/ while ils is \il\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
idle is recorded at frequency rank #43,937, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈaɪd(ə)l/. ils is at rank #44,900, tagged as apron, 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 88837, this pair ranks #375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of idle vs ils
Shared letters: il. Private to "idle": de. Private to "ils": s.
"idle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- idle ← dile · iddle · idel · idlle
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "idle" and "ils" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "idle" vs "ils" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "idle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "idle" and "ils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ils vs ino". 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 #375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.