Incase or In Case ?

I have seen a number of people write incase when they really mean in case.

What’s the difference?

Incase refers to being enclosed within. Like “Incase that penguin in ice”.
Also spelt encase.

Where as in case refers to doing something ‘in the event of’ or ‘as a precaution’. eg “you better set the penguin trap, just in case”

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19 Responses to Incase or In Case ?

  1. nicr says:

    helpful thanks!

  2. Dude says:

    Was looking for it, thanks 🙂

  3. shame says:

    seriously get this garbage off the internet. incase is not a word. The word you are thinking of is encase. Learn english dude….for real.

    • Leefe says:

      ‘incase’ is a valid alternate spelling of ‘encase’.

      From The Macquarie Concise Dictionary, Third Edition page 364, encase to enclose in. Also, incase.

      Note: I am Australian, we speak English.

      • James says:

        Australians speak Australian. It’s a lot like American English… Only difference is we do it the right way.

      • Laura Jones says:

        I would have to agree that “incase” cannot mean “encase” – you get ENcased in something. I mean sure it looks right as you are IN the case so you are INcased, but while this might look right to a child or someone learning English, it is not right.

        These American English ways of speaking and spelling are ridiculous and we should work to keep them from permeating our language. Words like normalcy or gotten which don’t actually exist and are used in place of a pre-existing word for the same thing! (normality, got).

    • Dan says:

      Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary 1957. In case you think incase is not a word, you should look it up, just in case.

    • Aggie says:

      Isn’t “garbage” an Americanism? 😉

      In English, incase is a valid alternate spelling of encase. In America it is only ever encase.

  4. Rose says:

    Shame, FACEPALM!
    Leefe, I always write ‘in case’ but know a few people who write ‘incase’ so had to do a search to make sure I was right! So, thank you. 🙂

  5. Rockstar Sid says:

    Whoops! I just used “incase” in the post and I was wondering if we should have a space.

    Thank you, in case if you happen to read this.

  6. Elizabeth says:

    I always shake my head when people write ‘Just incase you don’t know’ or ‘Just incase you were wondering’. I have corrected people before and they said I was wrong… but I allllways knew I was right, in the context (as above) it’s in case. Glad someone knows it too.

  7. JULIE HERTZ says:

    yeah i also noticed that some people used “INCASE” instead of “IN CASE”…like:
    “INCASE OF EMERGENCY, USE THIS STAIRS”…now we should be careful of our words in order not to be misunderstood:)

  8. mflo says:

    Hehe just had to use this in an email to a client. Glad i googled it because i almost used ‘incase’ or ‘in-case’.

  9. Kari says:

    Spelt is a type of wheat. “Spelled” is the actual word that should be used. Precaution is spelled, p-r-e-c-a-u-t-i-o-n. Just like ‘caution’ but with ‘pre’ in front of it. But otherwise, I would totally take your advice on how to use in case/incase grammatically correctly. Wow. Just wow.

    • Leefe says:

      ‘Spelt’ is spelt correctly. Its just people in the US and Canada that spell it as ‘spelled’.

      spelt
      1. (chiefly UK) Simple past tense and past participle of spell.
      Spelt – Wiktionary

      But I take you caution on the spelling of ‘precaution’, and have fixed it above.

  10. Darryl says:

    I think that “incase” is a word the same way “because” is a word. I think encase is to put something in a case. When I use incase, I mean in the case of. It is a case clause.

    Dictionaries are a book of words harvested from general use, languages define dictionaries, dictionaries are a record of some of the words used in a language at a particular time and place. Dictionaries are a reference for words. If you can back yourself on why you used a word and how you derived it, then the word is correct.

  11. Another dude says:

    Thanks mate! I keep forgetting the correct way to spell “In case” – but now with your example “Incase that penguin in ice”, I am not going to have a hard time remember this .. Haha

    Cheers!

  12. Knutkraka says:

    Thanks for clearing this up.

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