Which to use
“intact” is an adjective and “interact” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,351
- “intact” frequency rank
- #6,583
- “interact” frequency rank
- 13934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intact | interact |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Left complete or whole; not touched, defiled, sullied, or otherwise damaged. | To act upon each other. |
Where the eye mixes intact and interact
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: intact vs interact
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intact is /ɪnˈtækt/ while interact is /ɪn.təˈɹækt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intact is recorded at frequency rank #7,351, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈtækt/. interact is at rank #6,583, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪn.təˈɹækt/.
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 13934, this pair ranks #473,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intact vs interact
Shared letters: acint. Private to "intact": -. Private to "interact": er.
"intact" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "interact" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intact" for "interact" ever safe?
Frequency check: "intact" vs "interact" - 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 "intact" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "interact" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #473,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intact" and "interact" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indict vs intact". 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 #473,017 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.