Verbs That Start With I

172 words Words by letter Checked 9 Oct 2026

These verbs that start with I come from a standard English dictionary used for word games, ranked by how often each word is used in everyday writing. There are 172 verbs starting with I on this page. The 100 most common come first, each with a short meaning, followed by shorter, longer and easier picks and a filter for any ending or length.

I gives 172 verbs, and a large share start with in or im. Include, increase, invite, inspire, install and improve all share that opening.

These are formal, useful verbs for essays and projects. Imagine is a great choice for creative writing prompts. Identify, investigate and implement suit science and planning tasks. Short I verbs are rare here, so young readers may find this a tricky page.

Verbs starting with I: 172
Most used: issue
Longest common one: investigate 11 letters

Most common verbs that start with I

Ranked by how often the word appears in English text. "Type" is the word's main part of speech.

#	Word	Meaning	Type
1	issue	prepare and issue for public distribution or sale	verb
2	include	have as a part, be made up out of	verb
3	increase	become bigger or greater in amount	verb
4	imagine	form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case	verb
5	interview	conduct an interview in television, newspaper, and radio reporting	verb
6	institute	set up or lay the groundwork for	verb
7	improve	to make better	verb
8	identify	recognize as being; establish the identity of someone or something	verb
9	ignore	refuse to acknowledge	verb
10	introduce	cause to come to know personally	verb
11	indicate	be a signal for or a symptom of	verb
12	invest	make an investment	verb
13	investigate	investigate scientifically	verb
14	invite	increase the likelihood of	verb
15	involve	connect closely and often incriminatingly	verb
16	implement	apply in a manner consistent with its purpose or design	verb
17	inter	place in a grave or tomb	verb
18	inform	impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to	verb
19	install	set up for use	verb
20	investing	make an investment	verb
21	intend	have in mind as a purpose	verb
22	interact	act together or towards others or with others	verb
23	insist	be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge	verb
24	insert	put or introduce into something	verb
25	inspire	heighten or intensify	verb
26	insult	treat, mention, or speak to rudely	verb
27	impress	have an emotional or cognitive impact upon	verb
28	impose	compel to behave in a certain way	verb
29	interfere	come between so as to be hindrance or obstacle	verb
30	incorporate	make into a whole or make part of a whole	verb
31	imply	express or state indirectly	verb
32	interpret	make sense of; assign a meaning to	verb
33	issuing	prepare and issue for public distribution or sale	verb
34	initiate	bring into being	verb
35	integrate	make into a whole or make part of a whole	verb
36	illustrate	clarify by giving an example of	verb
37	installing	set up for use	verb
38	intern	deprive of freedom	verb
39	intervene	get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force	verb
40	inspect	look over carefully	verb
41	interrupt	make a break in	verb
42	invade	march aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation	verb
43	isolate	place or set apart	verb
44	informing	impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to	verb
45	intercept	seize on its way	verb
46	invent	come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort	verb
47	induce	cause to arise	verb
48	insisting	be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge	verb
49	indulge	give free rein to	verb
50	inherit	obtain from someone after their death	verb
51	implant	fix or set securely or deeply	verb
52	inducing	cause to arise	verb
53	inject	give an injection to	verb
54	importing	bring in from abroad	verb
55	insure	be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something	verb
56	imprint	establish or impress firmly in the mind	verb
57	inquire	inquire about	verb
58	itching	scrape or rub as if to relieve itching	verb
59	infect	communicate a disease to	verb
60	itch	scrape or rub as if to relieve itching	verb
61	ignite	cause to start burning; subject to fire or great heat	verb
62	inflict	impose something unpleasant	verb
63	inhibit	to put down by force or authority	verb
64	inhabit	inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of	verb
65	invoke	summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic	verb
66	instruct	impart skills or knowledge to	verb
67	intimidate	make timid or fearful	verb
68	illuminate	make lighter or brighter	verb
69	incur	make oneself subject to; bring upon oneself; become liable to	verb
70	imitate	reproduce someone's behavior or looks	verb
71	injure	cause injuries or bodily harm to	verb
72	infiltrate	cause (a liquid) to enter by penetrating the interstices	verb
73	inhale	draw deep into the lungs in by breathing	verb
74	intersect	meet at a point	verb
75	infer	reason by deduction; establish by deduction	verb
76	intensify	increase in extent or intensity	verb
77	incline	have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined	verb
78	impede	be a hindrance or obstacle to	verb
79	innovate	bring something new to an environment	verb
80	incite	give an incentive for action	verb
81	indulging	give free rein to	verb
82	impeach	challenge the honesty or veracity of	verb
83	impart	transmit (knowledge or skills)	verb
84	irritate	cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations	verb
85	improvise	perform without preparation	verb
86	inflate	exaggerate or make bigger	verb
87	instill	impart gradually	verb
88	invalidate	declare invalid	verb
89	incarnate	make concrete and real	verb
90	infringe	go against, as of rules and laws	verb
91	immerse	thrust or throw into	verb
92	impair	make worse or less effective	verb
93	introvert	fold inwards	verb
94	incase	enclose in, or as if in, a case	verb
95	interrogate	transmit (a signal) for setting off an appropriate response, as in telecommunication	verb
96	incurring	make oneself subject to; bring upon oneself; become liable to	verb
97	imprison	lock up or confine, in or as in a jail	verb
98	indict	accuse formally of a crime	verb
99	implicate	bring into intimate and incriminating connection	verb
100	implore	call upon in supplication; entreat	verb

Positive verbs that start with I

improve
inspire
impress
illuminate
idolize
invigorate
idealize

Short verbs that start with I

issue
inter
imply
itch
incur
infer
inlay
imbue
irk
impel

Long verbs that start with I

investigate
incorporate
illustrate
installing
intimidate
illuminate
infiltrate
invalidate
interrogate
impersonate
interconnect
instilling
incriminate
inaugurate
internalize
impregnate
initialize
imprinting
incapacitate
immobilize
incinerate
invigorate

Filter all 172 verbs that start with I

Narrow the full list by ending, letters inside and length. The list updates as you type.

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Questions people ask

How many verbs start with I?

This list has 172 verbs starting with I, taken from a standard word-game dictionary and limited to words that appear in real English text.

What are the most common verbs that start with I?

issue, include, increase, imagine, interview, institute, improve, identify are the most used in everyday English.

What are some long verbs that start with I?

interview, institute, introduce, investigate, implement.

What are easy verbs that start with I for kids?

issue, ignore, invest, invite are short, everyday examples.

Source: the ENABLE word list (a public-domain dictionary used for word games), ranked by how often each word appears in English text (the open wordfreq project), with short meanings from Princeton WordNet. Offensive words are left out.

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