Which to use
“interception” and “interruption” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,502
- “interception” frequency rank
- #18,111
- “interruption” frequency rank
- 34613
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | interception | interruption |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An act of intercepting something, the state of being intercepted, or a thing that is intercepted. | The act of interrupting, or the state of being interrupted. |
Where the eye mixes interception and interruption
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses interception with interruption
A purely visual mix-up. interception (/ɪntɚˈsɛpʃən/) and interruption (/ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/) 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 34613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
interception is recorded at frequency rank #16,502, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪntɚˈsɛpʃən/. interruption is at rank #18,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/.
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 34613, this pair ranks #319,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of interception vs interruption
Shared letters: einoprt. Private to "interception": c. Private to "interruption": u.
"interception" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVVC · "interruption" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- interception ← inetrception · innterception · intecreption · intercception · intercepiton · intercepption · intercepsion · interceptino
- interruption ← inetrruption · innterruption · interrpution · interrupiton · interrupption · interrupsion · interruptino · interruptionn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "interception" and "interruption" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "interception" or "interruption" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "interception" and "interruption" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "interception" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "interruption" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "interception" and "interruption" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interception vs intercession". 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 #319,259 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.