into
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "into", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "into" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "into" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
into is aEnglishprep. It means: To or towards the inside of. Pronounced /ˈɪn.tuː/. It ranks #83 in English word frequency. Often confused with it and io.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | into |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep |
| IPA | /ˈɪn.tuː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #83 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for into is 4 letters long, classified as aprep, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪn.tuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #83 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for into, with forms such as "innto", "inot", and "intto". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "it", "io", "its", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English in-to, from Old English intō, equivalent to in + to. Cognate with Scots intae. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is into, spelled I-N-T-O, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To or towards the inside of.
- 2To or towards the region of.
- 3Against, especially with force or violence.
- 4Indicates transition into another form or substance.
- 5Indicates division or the creation of subgroups or sections.
- 6After the start of.
- 7Interested in or attracted to.
- 8Expressing the operation of division, with the denominator given first. Usually with "goes".
- 9Expressing the operation of multiplication.
- 10Investigating the subject (of).
- 11Attacking or fighting a person.
Etymology
From Middle English in-to, from Old English intō, equivalent to in + to. Cognate with Scots intae.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: innto,inot,intto,itno,nito
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for into
Misspelling Variants of "into"
Frequency rank: #83 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter I in our English index: