Which to use
“intern” and “intro” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,727
- “intern” frequency rank
- #9,487
- “intro” frequency rank
- 21214
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intern | intro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who is interned, forcibly or voluntarily. | An introduction. |
Where the eye mixes intern and intro
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between intern and intro
A purely visual mix-up. intern (/ɪnˈtɝn/) and intro (/ˈɪntɹoʊ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intern is recorded at frequency rank #11,727, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈtɝn/. intro is at rank #9,487, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪntɹoʊ/.
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 21214, this pair ranks #425,527 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intern vs intro
Shared letters: inrt. Private to "intern": e. Private to "intro": o.
"intern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "intro" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intern" for "intro" ever safe?
Frequency check: "intern" vs "intro" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,527 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intern" and "intro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "INTHE vs intro". 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 #425,527 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.