Which to use
“incision” is a noun and “incisive” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,566
- “incision” frequency rank
- #38,901
- “incisive” frequency rank
- 62467
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incision | incisive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A cut, especially one made by a scalpel or similar medical tool in the context of surgical operation; the scar resulting from such a cut. | Intelligently analytical and concise. (of a person or mental process) |
Where the eye mixes incision and incisive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. incision (VCCVCVVC) and incisive (VCCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses incision with incisive
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: incision is /ɪnˈsɪʒən/ while incisive is /ɪnˈsaɪ.sɪv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incision is recorded at frequency rank #23,566, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈsɪʒən/. incisive is at rank #38,901, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈsaɪ.sɪv/.
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 62467, this pair ranks #88,362 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of incision vs incisive
Shared letters: cins. Private to "incision": o. Private to "incisive": ev.
"incision" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "incisive" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "incision" for "incisive" ever safe?
Which is more common, "incision" or "incisive"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "incision" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "incisive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,362 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incision" and "incisive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incisive vs indecisive". 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 #88,362 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.