Which to use
“inclement” is an adjective and “increment” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,043
- “inclement” frequency rank
- #30,457
- “increment” frequency rank
- 67500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inclement | increment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stormy, of rough weather; not clement. | The action of increasing or becoming greater. |
Where the eye mixes inclement and increment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses inclement with increment
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inclement is /ɪnˈklɛm.ənt/ while increment is /ˈɪŋkɹɪmn̩t/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “inclement” becomes r in “increment”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inclement is recorded at frequency rank #37,043, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈklɛm.ənt/. increment is at rank #30,457, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪŋkɹɪmn̩t/.
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 67500, this pair ranks #63,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of inclement vs increment
Shared letters: ceimnt. Private to "inclement": l. Private to "increment": r.
"inclement" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCC · "increment" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "inclement" and "increment" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "inclement" vs "increment" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "inclement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "increment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inclement" and "increment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incitement vs inclement". 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 #63,060 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.