Which to use
“intensely” is an adverb and “intensity” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,572
- “intensely” frequency rank
- #5,697
- “intensity” frequency rank
- 20269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intensely | intensity |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In an intense manner. | The quality of being intense. |
Where the eye mixes intensely and intensity
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. intensely and intensity follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between intensely and intensity
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intensely is /ɪnˈtɛnsli/ while intensity is /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intensely is recorded at frequency rank #14,572, classified as anadv, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsli/. intensity is at rank #5,697, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/.
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 20269, this pair ranks #432,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intensely vs intensity
Shared letters: einsty. Private to "intensely": l. Private to "intensity": -.
"intensely" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "intensity" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "intensely" and "intensity" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "intensely" or "intensity"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intensely" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intensity" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intensely" and "intensity" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intensely vs inversely". 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 #432,292 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.