Which to use
“incur” and “insure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,620
- “incur” frequency rank
- #17,164
- “insure” frequency rank
- 36784
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incur | insure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to. | To provide for compensation if some specified risk occurs. Often agreed by policy (contract) to offer financial compensation in case of an accident, theft or other undesirable event. |
Where the eye mixes incur and insure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. incur runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against insure's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: incur vs insure
A purely visual mix-up. incur (/ɪnˈkɜː/) and insure (/ɪnˈʃɔː(ɹ)/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incur is recorded at frequency rank #19,620, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈkɜː/. insure is at rank #17,164, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈʃɔː(ɹ)/.
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 36784, this pair ranks #300,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of incur vs insure
Shared letters: inru. Private to "incur": c. Private to "insure": es.
"incur" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "insure" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "incur" for "insure" ever safe?
Frequency check: "incur" vs "insure" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "incur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "insure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incur" and "insure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incur vs Inoue". 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 #300,165 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.