interceptionvsinterventionConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,904
“interception” frequency rank
#1,664
“intervention” frequency rank
24568
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interception intervention
Definition Action d’intercepter ou résultat de cette action. Action d’intervenir.

Where the eye mixes interception and intervention

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

12 ch
interception
12 ch
intervention

Look-alike desk: interception vs intervention

A purely visual mix-up. interception (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.sɛp.sjɔ̃\) and intervention (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interception is recorded at frequency rank #22,904, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.sɛp.sjɔ̃\. intervention is at rank #1,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.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 24568, this pair ranks #345,880 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of interception vs intervention

Shared letters: einort. Private to "interception": cp. Private to "intervention": v.

"interception" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVVC  ·  "intervention" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interceptioninetrception · innterception · intecreption · intercception · intercepiton · intercepption · interceptino · interceptionn
  • interventioninetrvention · inntervention · interevntion · interrvention · interveniton · intervenntion · interventino · interventionn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "interception" and "intervention" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.sɛp.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.vɑ̃.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "interception" vs "intervention" - which ranks higher?
"intervention" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,664 in our French list, against #22,904 for "interception". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "interception" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intervention" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #345,880 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "interception" and "intervention" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interception vs intercession". 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 #345,880 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