Which to use
“interest” is a noun and “intersect” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #695
- “interest” frequency rank
- #22,708
- “intersect” frequency rank
- 23403
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | interest | intersect |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | To cut into or between; to cut or cross mutually; to divide into parts. |
Where the eye mixes interest and intersect
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: interest vs intersect
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: interest is /ˈɪn.tɹɛst/ while intersect is /ɪntəˈsɛkt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23403, 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/. intersect is at rank #22,708, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪntəˈsɛkt/.
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 23403, this pair ranks #409,540 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of interest vs intersect
Shared letters: einrst. Private to "interest": -. Private to "intersect": c.
"interest" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC · "intersect" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "interest" and "intersect" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "interest" or "intersect" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "interest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intersect" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,540 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "interest" and "intersect" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interment vs intersect". 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 #409,540 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.