Which to use
“intend” is a verb and “intent” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,152
- “intend” frequency rank
- #4,457
- “intent” frequency rank
- 10609
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intend | intent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To fix the mind upon (something, or something to be accomplished); be intent upon | Something that is intended. |
Where the eye mixes intend and intent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. intend and intent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between intend and intent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intend is /ɪnˈtɛnd/ while intent is /ɪnˈtɛnt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “intend” becomes t in “intent”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intend is recorded at frequency rank #6,152, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnd/. intent is at rank #4,457, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnt/.
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 10609, this pair ranks #491,439 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intend vs intent
Shared letters: eint. Private to "intend": d. Private to "intent": -.
"intend" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "intent" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "intend" and "intent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "intend" or "intent"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "intend" and "intent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "intend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #491,439 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intend" and "intent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intent vs invert". 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 #491,439 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.