inclinevsincludeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,868
“incline” frequency rank
#620
“include” frequency rank
24488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incline include
Definition To bend or move (something) out of a given plane or direction, often the horizontal or vertical. To bring into a group, class, set, or total as a (new) part or member.

Where the eye mixes incline and include

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
incline
7 ch
include

Look-alike desk: incline vs include

A purely visual mix-up. incline (/ɪnˈklaɪn/) and include (/ɪnˈkluːd/) 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 24488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

incline is recorded at frequency rank #23,868, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈklaɪn/. include is at rank #620, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈkluːd/.

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 24488, this pair ranks #401,562 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of incline vs include

Shared letters: ceiln. Private to "incline": -. Private to "include": du.

"incline" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "include" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inclineicnline · inccline · incilne · inclien · inclinne · inclline · inclnie · inlcine
  • includeicnlude · incclude · incldue · incllude · includde · inclued · inculde · inlcude

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "incline" for "include" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪnˈklaɪn/ versus /ɪnˈkluːd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "incline" vs "include" - which ranks higher?
"include" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #620 in our English list, against #23,868 for "incline". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "incline" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "include" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,562 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "incline" and "include" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inching vs incline". 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 #401,562 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