Which to use
“Intention” and “intonation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,773
- “Intention” frequency rank
- #32,865
- “intonation” frequency rank
- 34638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Intention | intonation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intention. | Manière d’attaquer un son, un air. |
Where the eye mixes Intention and intonation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Intention runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against intonation's 10 (VCCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Intention vs intonation
A purely visual mix-up. Intention (\ɪntɛnˈʦi̯oːn\) and intonation (\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34638, 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\. intonation is at rank #32,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.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 34638, this pair ranks #282,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Intention vs intonation
Shared letters: inot. Private to "Intention": e. Private to "intonation": a.
"Intention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "intonation" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Intention ← inetntion · inntention · inteniton · intenntion · intentino · intentionn · intentoin · intenttion
- intonation ← inntonation · inotnation · intnoation · intoantion · intonaiton · intonatino · intonationn · intonatoin
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Intention" and "intonation" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "Intention" or "intonation" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Intention" and "intonation" 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 "intonation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Intention" and "intonation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intonation 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 #282,427 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.