intonationvsinvocationWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,865
“intonation” frequency rank
#24,257
“invocation” frequency rank
57122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intonation invocation
Definition Manière d’attaquer un son, un air. Action d’invoquer.

Where the eye mixes intonation and invocation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
intonation
10 ch
invocation

Look-alike desk: intonation vs invocation

A purely visual mix-up. intonation (\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\) and invocation (\ɛ̃.vɔ.ka.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 57122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intonation is recorded at frequency rank #32,865, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\. invocation is at rank #24,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.vɔ.ka.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 57122, this pair ranks #116,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of intonation vs invocation

Shared letters: ainot. Private to "intonation": -. Private to "invocation": cv.

"intonation" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC  ·  "invocation" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • intonationinntonation · inotnation · intnoation · intoantion · intonaiton · intonatino · intonationn · intonatoin
  • invocationinnvocation · inovcation · invcoation · invoaction · invocaiton · invocatino · invocationn · invocatoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intonation" and "invocation" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.vɔ.ka.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "intonation" or "invocation"?
"invocation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,257 in our French list, against #32,865 for "intonation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intonation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "invocation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #116,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intonation" and "invocation" 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 #116,923 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