includevsintrudeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#620
“include” frequency rank
#36,621
“intrude” frequency rank
37241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature include intrude
Definition To bring into a group, class, set, or total as a (new) part or member. To thrust oneself in; to come or enter without invitation, permission, or welcome; to encroach; to trespass.

Where the eye mixes include and intrude

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

7 ch
include
7 ch
intrude

Look-alike desk: include vs intrude

A purely visual mix-up. include (/ɪnˈkluːd/) and intrude (/ɪnˈtɹuːd/) 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 37241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

include is recorded at frequency rank #620, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈkluːd/. intrude is at rank #36,621, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈtɹuːd/.

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 37241, this pair ranks #296,225 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of include vs intrude

Shared letters: deinu. Private to "include": cl. Private to "intrude": rt.

"include" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "intrude" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • includeicnlude · incclude · incldue · incllude · includde · inclued · inculde · inlcude
  • intrudeinntrude · inrtude · intrdue · intrrude · intrudde · intrued · inttrude · inturde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "include" for "intrude" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪnˈkluːd/ versus /ɪnˈtɹuːd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "include" or "intrude"?
"include" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #620 in our English list, against #36,621 for "intrude". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "include" and "intrude" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "include" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intrude" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,225 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "include" and "intrude" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interlude vs intrude". 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 #296,225 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