Which to use
“inhale” is a verb and “intake” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,967
- “inhale” frequency rank
- #7,352
- “intake” frequency rank
- 28319
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inhale | intake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm. | The place where water, air or other fluid is taken into a pipe or conduit; opposed to outlet. |
Where the eye mixes inhale and intake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. inhale and intake follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses inhale with intake
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inhale is /ɪnˈheɪl/ while intake is /ˈɪnteɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inhale is recorded at frequency rank #20,967, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈheɪl/. intake is at rank #7,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪnteɪk/.
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 28319, this pair ranks #372,030 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of inhale vs intake
Shared letters: aein. Private to "inhale": hl. Private to "intake": kt.
"inhale" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "intake" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "inhale" and "intake" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "inhale" or "intake"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "inhale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,030 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inhale" and "intake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inane vs inhale". 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 #372,030 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.