interessevsinterestWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,015
“interesse” frequency rank
#36,908
“interest” frequency rank
61923
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interesse interest
Definition Intérêt. Intérêt.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set interesse and interest apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
interesse
8 ch
interest

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. interesse (\in.te.ˈrɛs.se\) and interest (\ˈɪn.tɹɪst\) 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 61923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interesse is recorded at frequency rank #25,015, classified as anoun, pronounced \in.te.ˈrɛs.se\. interest is at rank #36,908, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɪn.tɹɪst\.

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 61923, this pair ranks #89,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of interesse vs interest

Shared letters: einrst. Private to "interesse": -. Private to "interest": -.

"interesse" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "interest" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interesseinetresse · innteresse · inteersse · interese · intereses · interresse · intersese · intreesse
  • interestinetrest · innterest · inteerst · interesst · interestt · interrest · interset · intreest

Frequency comparison

interesse#25,015
interest#36,908

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "interesse" and "interest" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\in.te.ˈrɛs.se\ versus \ˈɪn.tɹɪst\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "interesse" or "interest"?
"interesse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,015 in our French list, against #36,908 for "interest". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering interesse vs interest

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “interesse” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list