incitevsintimeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: incite is a verb, intime is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“incite” is a verb and “intime” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,178
“incite” frequency rank
#5,469
“intime” frequency rank
15647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incite intime
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de inciter. Profondément intérieur, en parlant surtout de ce qui fait l’essence réelle d’une chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set incite and intime apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
incite
6 ch
intime

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: incite is \ɛ̃.sit\ while intime is \ɛ̃.tim\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

incite is recorded at frequency rank #10,178, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.sit\. intime is at rank #5,469, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tim\.

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 15647, this pair ranks #391,464 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of incite vs intime

Shared letters: eint. Private to "incite": c. Private to "intime": m.

"incite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "intime" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inciteicnite · inccite · inciet · incitte · inctie · inicte · inncite · nicite
  • intimeinitme · inntime · intiem · intimme · intmie · inttime · itnime · nitime

Frequency comparison

incite#10,178
intime#5,469

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "incite" and "intime" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "incite" is a verb and "intime" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "incite" or "intime"?
"intime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,469 in our French list, against #10,178 for "incite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering incite vs intime

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “incite”; for an adjective, it's “intime”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “incite” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list