Which to use
“intention” and “intuition” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,095
- “intention” frequency rank
- #14,146
- “intuition” frequency rank
- 18241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intention | intuition |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A course of action that a person intends to follow. | Immediate cognition without the use of conscious rational processes. |
Where the eye mixes intention and intuition
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. intention (VCCVCCVVC) and intuition (VCCVVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: intention vs intuition
A purely visual mix-up. intention (/ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/) and intuition (/ˌɪn.tjuːˈɪʃ.ən/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18241, 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/. intuition is at rank #14,146, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌɪn.tjuːˈɪʃ.ən/.
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 18241, this pair ranks #446,180 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intention vs intuition
Shared letters: inot. Private to "intention": e. Private to "intuition": u.
"intention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "intuition" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "intention" and "intuition" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "intention" or "intuition" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "intention" and "intuition" 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 "intuition" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #446,180 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intention" and "intuition" 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 #446,180 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.