interrogatevsinterrogatorTell them apart

Quick tell: interrogate is a verb, interrogator is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“interrogate” is a verb and “interrogator” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,873
“interrogate” frequency rank
#48,295
“interrogator” frequency rank
81168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interrogate interrogator
Definition To question or quiz, especially in a thorough or aggressive manner. One who interrogates; a person who asks questions, especially one who is adversarial.

Letter map: interrogate vs interrogator

Shared letters muted; letters that set interrogate and interrogator apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.

11 ch
interrogate
12 ch
interrogator

Grammar separator: interrogate vs interrogator

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: interrogate is averb and interrogatoranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interrogate is recorded at frequency rank #32,873, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈtɛɹ.ə.ɡeɪt/. interrogator is at rank #48,295, tagged as anoun.

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 81168, this pair ranks #18,244 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of interrogate vs interrogator

Shared letters: aeginort. Private to "interrogate": -. Private to "interrogator": -.

"interrogate" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCV  ·  "interrogator" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interrogateinetrrogate · innterrogate · interogate · interorgate · interrgoate · interroagte · interrogaet · interrogatte
  • interrogatorinetrrogator · innterrogator · interogator · interorgator · interrgoator · interroagtor · interrogaotr · interrogatorr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "interrogate" and "interrogator" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "interrogate" is a verb and "interrogator" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "interrogate" or "interrogator" show up more?
"interrogate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,873 in our English list, against #48,295 for "interrogator". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "interrogate" and "interrogator".

  • Full dictionary entry for "interrogate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interrogator" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,244 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "interrogate" and "interrogator" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interrogation vs interrogator". 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 #18,244 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list