IntentionvsintentionsConfusable pair

Which to use

“Intention” and “intentions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,773
“Intention” frequency rank
#4,340
“intentions” frequency rank
6113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Intention intentions
Definition Intention. Pluriel de intention.

Where the eye mixes Intention and intentions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
Intention
10 ch
intentions

Why the eye confuses Intention with intentions

A purely visual mix-up. Intention (\ɪntɛnˈʦi̯oːn\) and intentions (\ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “Intention” sits inside “intentions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Intention is recorded at frequency rank #1,773, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɪntɛnˈʦi̯oːn\. intentions is at rank #4,340, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\.

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 6113, this pair ranks #427,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Intention vs intentions

Shared letters: einot. Private to "Intention": -. Private to "intentions": s.

"Intention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC  ·  "intentions" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Intentioninetntion · inntention · inteniton · intenntion · intentino · intentionn · intentoin · intenttion
  • intentionsinetntions · inntentions · intenitons · intenntions · intentinos · intentionns · intentionss · intentiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Intention" for "intentions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɪntɛnˈʦi̯oːn\ versus \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Intention" or "intentions"?
"Intention" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,773 in our French list, against #4,340 for "intentions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Intention" and "intentions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Intention" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intentions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Intention" and "intentions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intentions vs intonations". 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 #427,141 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list