Exploring the nuances of language to find the word that perfectly encapsulates what you’re trying to say is somewhat of an art. As a business owner or marketer, the words you choose are extremely important, as they can help move a lead down the path to a sale … or drive them away.
This can get tricky, however, when words with similar meanings also look and sound similar. For example, people frequently mix up the words “insure” and “ensure”, and “assure” is similar enough to these that it also adds to the confusion.
To avoid future mix-ups, let’s take a look at those nuances that make us double- and triple-check these three words. Here’s what you should know about ensure, insure, and assure.
Ensure vs. Insure vs. Assure — What’s the Difference?
Ensure, insure, and assure all have relatively similar meanings. In fact, for a long time, they were interchangeable words. Luckily, more specific definitions and uses were assigned in the mid-19th century to each one to help relieve some of the confusion.
Ensure
Ensure means to secure or guarantee something or to make something certain. We find that this is most often the word that people are looking for when they accidentally substitute one of the other two. If you ensure something, you are guaranteeing that it will happen.
Example:
He was positive that his excellent grades and stellar personal essay would ensure his admission to the university.
Example:
They put down a deposit on the apartment, ensuring that the landlord would not rent it to someone else.
Insure
Insure also has to do with guaranteeing something, but it specifically refers to guaranteeing it against loss or harm or to issuing or obtaining an insurance policy. This definition means that uses of insure are much more specific than the uses of ensure or assure. Unless your conversation could include State Farm or Progressive, you might want to opt for one of the other possibilities.
Example:
Because we live on the coast, we have to insure our house against hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Example:
My dad said that it was important to do research about insuring my car before I bought it.
Assure
Assure is a transitive verb, meaning that it is used with an object. It can mean quite a few things: to state with confidence to someone, to cause to know surely, to promise, to secure, or to encourage. While assure is similar in definition to ensure, its use with an object means it is something you do to someone or something. You might assure someone that everything will be OK or assure your boss that you will complete a project by the deadline.
Example:
She assured her mom that she would be home by curfew on prom night.
Example:
His contract assures him a job at the company for at least five years.
So what’s the difference between ensure vs. insure vs. assure? To ensure is to make something certain, to insure is to protect something from harm, and to assure is to promise something or to state something with confidence to someone.
Because the differences between these words exist mostly in how they are used in context, it’s possible to use all three in a single sentence.
Example:
She assured her husband that her new job would ensure their ability to insure their house against any and all unforeseen circumstances.
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