Which to use
“intention” is a noun and “intentional” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,095
- “intention” frequency rank
- #10,874
- “intentional” frequency rank
- 14969
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intention | intentional |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A course of action that a person intends to follow. | Intended or planned; done deliberately or voluntarily. |
Where the eye mixes intention and intentional
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. intention runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against intentional's 11 (VCCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between intention and intentional
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intention is /ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/ while intentional is /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “intention” sits inside “intentional”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intention is recorded at frequency rank #4,095, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/. intentional is at rank #10,874, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/.
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 14969, this pair ranks #466,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intention vs intentional
Shared letters: einot. Private to "intention": -. Private to "intentional": al.
"intention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "intentional" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- intention ← inetntion · inntention · inteniton · intenntion · intension · intentino · intentionn · intentoin
- intentional ← inetntional · inntentional · intenitonal · intenntional · intentinoal · intentioanl · intentionall · intentionla
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intention" for "intentional" ever safe?
Which is more common, "intention" or "intentional"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intention" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intentional" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #466,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intention" and "intentional" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intentional vs intentioned". 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 #466,846 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.