immense vs intense, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“immense” and “intense” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,556
“immense” frequency rank: #3,698
“intense” frequency rank: 12254
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	immense	intense
Definition	Huge, gigantic, very large.	Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set immense and intense apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

immense

7 ch

intense

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. immense (/ɪˈmɛns/) and intense (/ɪnˈtɛns/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

immense is recorded at frequency rank #8,556, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪˈmɛns/. intense is at rank #3,698, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛns/.

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 12254, this pair ranks #482,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of immense vs intense

Shared letters: eins. Private to "immense": m. Private to "intense": t.

"immense" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "intense" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

immense ← imemnse · imense · immenes · immennse · immensse · immesne · immnese · mimense
intense ← inetnse · inntense · intenes · intennse · intensse · intesne · intnese · inttense

Frequency comparison

immense#8,556

intense#3,698

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "immense" and "intense" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "immense" or "intense"?

"intense" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,698 in our English list, against #8,556 for "immense". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering immense vs intense

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