Which to use
“Intention” and “invention” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,773
- “Intention” frequency rank
- #5,774
- “invention” frequency rank
- 7547
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Intention | invention |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intention. | Solution nouvelle, trouvée pour la première fois, inédite, et prouvée par un prototype qui fonctionne, d’un problème pratique, scientifique ou technique. |
Where the eye mixes Intention and invention
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Intention and invention follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Intention and invention
A purely visual mix-up. Intention (\ɪntɛnˈʦi̯oːn\) and invention (\ɛ̃.vɑ̃.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 a single letter - t in “Intention” becomes v in “invention”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7547, 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\. invention is at rank #5,774, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.vɑ̃.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 7547, this pair ranks #422,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Intention vs invention
Shared letters: einot. Private to "Intention": -. Private to "invention": v.
"Intention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "invention" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Intention" for "invention" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Intention" or "invention"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Intention" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "invention" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Intention" and "invention" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "invention vs inventive". 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 #422,847 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.