intensovsintentoTell them apart

Which to use

“intenso” and “intento” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,119
“intenso” frequency rank
#1,350
“intento” frequency rank
6469
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intenso intento
Definition Que tiene o se hace con intensidad. Atento.

Where the eye mixes intenso and intento

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
intenso
7 ch
intento

Visual trap between intenso and intento

A purely visual mix-up. intenso ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽnso]) and intento ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪o]) 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 a single letter - s in “intenso” becomes t in “intento”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intenso is recorded at frequency rank #5,119, classified as anadj, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽnso]. intento is at rank #1,350, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪o].

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 6469, this pair ranks #310,688 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of intenso vs intento

Shared letters: einot. Private to "intenso": s. Private to "intento": -.

"intenso" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "intento" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • intensoinetnso · inntenso · intennso · intenos · intensso · intesno · intneso · inttenso
  • intentoinetnto · inntento · intennto · intenot · intentto · intetno · intneto · inttento

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "intenso" for "intento" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽnso] versus [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "intenso" or "intento"?
"intento" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,350 in our Spanish list, against #5,119 for "intenso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intenso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intento" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #310,688 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intenso" and "intento" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inserto vs intento". 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 #310,688 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list