ifvsincWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: if is a conjunction, inc is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“if” is a conjunction and “inc” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37
“if” frequency rank
#1,760
“inc” frequency rank
1797
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature if inc
Definition Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false. Abbreviation of increase.

Letter map: if vs inc

Shared letters muted; letters that set if and inc apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
if
3 ch
inc

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: if is aconjunction and incaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

if is recorded at frequency rank #37, classified as aconj, pronounced /ɪf/. inc is at rank #1,760, 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 1797, this pair ranks #526,635 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of if vs inc

Shared letters: i. Private to "if": f. Private to "inc": cn.

"if" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "inc" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "if" and "inc" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "if" is a conjunction and "inc" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "if" or "inc"?
"if" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37 in our English list, against #1,760 for "inc". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list