immenselyvsintenselyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,535
“immensely” frequency rank
#14,572
“intensely” frequency rank
28107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature immensely intensely
Definition Greatly; hugely; extremely; vastly; to a great extent. In an intense manner.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set immensely and intensely apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
immensely
9 ch
intensely

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. immensely (/ɪˈmɛnsli/) and intensely (/ɪnˈtɛnsli/) 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 28107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

immensely is recorded at frequency rank #13,535, classified as anadv, pronounced /ɪˈmɛnsli/. intensely is at rank #14,572, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsli/.

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 28107, this pair ranks #373,681 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of immensely vs intensely

Shared letters: eilnsy. Private to "immensely": m. Private to "intensely": t.

"immensely" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "intensely" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • immenselyimemnsely · imensely · immenesly · immennsely · immenselly · immenselyy · immenseyl · immensley
  • intenselyinetnsely · inntensely · intenesly · intennsely · intenselly · intenselyy · intenseyl · intensley

Frequency comparison

immensely#13,535
intensely#14,572

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "immensely" and "intensely" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɪˈmɛnsli/ versus /ɪnˈtɛnsli/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "immensely" or "intensely"?
"immensely" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,535 in our English list, against #14,572 for "intensely". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering immensely vs intensely

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list