Which to use
“interest” is a noun and “internet” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #695
- “interest” frequency rank
- #928
- “internet” frequency rank
- 1623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | interest | internet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed. | Alternative letter-case form of Internet (“the specific internet consisting of a global network of computers that communicate using Internet Protocol (IP) and that use Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to identify the best paths to route those communications”). |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set interest and internet apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
interest and internet form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
interest is recorded at frequency rank #695, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪn.tɹɛst/. internet is at rank #928, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈɪntəˌnɛt/.
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 1623, this pair ranks #527,035 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "interest" and "internet" be used interchangeably?
Remembering interest vs internet
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “interest”; for a name, it's “internet”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “interest” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable