Which to use
“intimate” is an adjective and “intimately” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,487
- “intimate” frequency rank
- #21,247
- “intimately” frequency rank
- 27734
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intimate | intimately |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Closely acquainted; familiar. | In an intimate manner. |
Where the eye mixes intimate and intimately
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. intimate runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against intimately's 10 (VCCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses intimate with intimately
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intimate is /ˈɪn.tɪ.mət/ while intimately is /ˈɪntɪmətli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “intimate” sits inside “intimately”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intimate is recorded at frequency rank #6,487, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪn.tɪ.mət/. intimately is at rank #21,247, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈɪntɪmətli/.
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 27734, this pair ranks #376,516 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of intimate vs intimately
Shared letters: aeimnt. Private to "intimate": -. Private to "intimately": ly.
"intimate" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "intimately" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- intimate ← initmate · inntimate · intiamte · intimaet · intimatte · intimmate · intimtae · intmiate
- intimately ← initmately · inntimately · intiamtely · intimaetly · intimatelly · intimatelyy · intimateyl · intimatley
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intimate" for "intimately" ever safe?
Which is more common, "intimate" or "intimately"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "intimate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intimately" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,516 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intimate" and "intimately" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intimately vs intricately". 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 #376,516 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.