incasevsintakeConfusable pair

Quick tell: incase is a verb, intake is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“incase” is a verb and “intake” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,855
“incase” frequency rank
#7,352
“intake” frequency rank
40207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incase intake
Definition Alternative spelling of encase. The place where water, air or other fluid is taken into a pipe or conduit; opposed to outlet.

Letter map: incase vs intake

Shared letters muted; letters that set incase and intake apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. incase and intake follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
incase
6 ch
intake

Grammar separator: incase vs intake

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: incase is averb and intakeanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

incase is recorded at frequency rank #32,855, classified as averb. intake is at rank #7,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪnteɪk/.

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 40207, this pair ranks #269,658 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of incase vs intake

Shared letters: aein. Private to "incase": cs. Private to "intake": kt.

"incase" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "intake" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • incase ← icnase · inacse · incaes · incasse · inccase · incsae · inncase · nicase
  • intake ← inatke · inntake · intaek · intakke · intkae · inttake · itnake · nitake

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "incase" and "intake" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "incase" is a verb and "intake" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "incase" vs "intake" - which ranks higher?
"intake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,352 in our English list, against #32,855 for "incase". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "incase" and "intake". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "incase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,658 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "incase" and "intake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inane vs incase". 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 #269,658 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list