Which to use
“intensify” is a verb and “intensive” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,571
- “intensify” frequency rank
- #6,485
- “intensive” frequency rank
- 30056
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intensify | intensive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To render more intense. | Done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough. |
Where the eye mixes intensify and intensive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. intensify and intensive follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: intensify vs intensive
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intensify is /ɪnˈtɛnsɪfaɪ/ while intensive is /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intensify is recorded at frequency rank #23,571, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsɪfaɪ/. intensive is at rank #6,485, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/.
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 30056, this pair ranks #357,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of intensify vs intensive
Shared letters: einst. Private to "intensify": fy. Private to "intensive": v.
"intensify" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "intensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "intensify" and "intensive" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "intensify" vs "intensive" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "intensify" and "intensive" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "intensify" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intensive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intensify" and "intensive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intensive vs intensively". 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 #357,728 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.