Spelling - Interfere and Intervene

These two words are similar in meaning and yet they are so different.

Both of the words start with ‘inter’ which means between. The difference in the two words is actually in the connotations of the words.

The word interfere has negative connotations, whereas the word intervene has more positive connotations.

There are two types of interference – One is the interference that you would get from a radio static for instance. The second is where people are interfering with other people’s things or lives.

When using intervene, you usually use it when people are intervening to change or help a situation.

You wouldn’t use the following:

“She was intervening with my affairs.”

You would use:

“She was interfering with my affairs.”

You wouldn’t use the following:

“She helped by interfering and stopping the fight.”

You would use:

“She helped by intervening and stopping the fight.”