# infect vs ingest

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### infect
*verb · IPA /ɪnˈfɛkt/ · frequency rank #18,109*
To bring (the body or part of it) into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen), so that the pathogen begins to act on the body; (of a pathogen) to come into contact with (a body or body part) and begin to act on it.

### ingest
*verb · IPA /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛst/ · frequency rank #35,778*
To take (a substance, e.g., food) into the body of an organism, especially through the mouth and into the gastrointestinal tract.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/infect-vs-ingest