Which to use
“intensive” is an adjective and “intensively” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,485
- “intensive” frequency rank
- #34,127
- “intensively” frequency rank
- 40612
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intensive | intensively |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough. | In an intensive way. |
Letter map: intensive vs intensively
Shared letters muted; letters that set intensive and intensively apart highlighted. Shared run: 9. intensive runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCV) against intensively's 11 (VCCVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: intensive vs intensively
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: intensive is anadjective and intensivelyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “intensive” sits inside “intensively”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intensive is recorded at frequency rank #6,485, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/. intensively is at rank #34,127, tagged as anadv.
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 40612, this pair ranks #265,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of intensive vs intensively
Shared letters: einstv. Private to "intensive": -. Private to "intensively": ly.
"intensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "intensively" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- intensive ← inetnsive · inntensive · intenisve · intennsive · intensiev · intensivve · intenssive · intensvie
- intensively ← inetnsively · inntensively · intenisvely · intennsively · intensievly · intensivelly · intensivelyy · intensiveyl
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intensive" for "intensively" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "intensive" or "intensively" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "intensive" and "intensively". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "intensive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intensively" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intensive" and "intensively" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intensely 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 #265,982 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.