Which to use
“intel” and “intern” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,370
- “intel” frequency rank
- #11,727
- “intern” frequency rank
- 18097
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intel | intern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intelligence (secret information). | A person who is interned, forcibly or voluntarily. |
Where the eye mixes intel and intern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: intel vs intern
A purely visual mix-up. intel (/ˈɪn.tɛl/) and intern (/ɪnˈtɝn/) 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 18097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intel is recorded at frequency rank #6,370, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪn.tɛl/. intern is at rank #11,727, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈtɝn/.
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 18097, this pair ranks #447,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intel vs intern
Shared letters: eint. Private to "intel": l. Private to "intern": r.
"intel" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "intern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "intel" and "intern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "intel" or "intern" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "intel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #447,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intel" and "intern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intel vs INTHE". 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 #447,135 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.