Which to use
“intention” and “intentions” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,095
- “intention” frequency rank
- #5,976
- “intentions” frequency rank
- 10071
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intention | intentions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A course of action that a person intends to follow. | plural of intention |
Where the eye mixes intention and intentions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses intention with intentions
A purely visual mix-up. intention (/ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/) and intentions (/ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “intention” sits inside “intentions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10071, 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/. intentions is at rank #5,976, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/.
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 10071, this pair ranks #494,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intention vs intentions
Shared letters: einot. Private to "intention": -. Private to "intentions": s.
"intention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "intentions" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- intention ← inetntion · inntention · inteniton · intenntion · intension · intentino · intentionn · intentoin
- intentions ← inetntions · inntentions · intenitons · intenntions · intentinos · intentionns · intentionss · intentiosn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intention" for "intentions" ever safe?
Which is more common, "intention" or "intentions"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "intention" and "intentions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "intention" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intentions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #494,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intention" and "intentions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intention vs intonation". 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 #494,186 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.