ins vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ins” is a preposition and “is” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,900
“ins” frequency rank: #1,709
“is” frequency rank: 29609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ins	is
Definition	ao, no, dendro do	contração de agus; e

Letter map: ins vs is

Shared letters muted; letters that set ins and is apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch

ins

2 ch

Role in the sentence - ins and is

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ins is apreposition and isaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ins is recorded at frequency rank #27,900, classified as aprep, pronounced /ɪns/. is is at rank #1,709, tagged as averb.

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 29609, this pair ranks #38,975 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ins vs is

Shared letters: is. Private to "ins": n. Private to "is": -.

"ins" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "is" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ins" for "is" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ins" is a preposition and "is" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ins" vs "is" - which ranks higher?

"is" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,709 in our Portuguese list, against #27,900 for "ins". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ins" and "is".

Full dictionary entry for "ins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "is" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #38,975 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ins" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ino vs ins". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #38,975 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.