Assure, Ensure, and Insure: Here’s another trio of my favorite homophones. These are wrongly used quite often. They are confusing, I know. However, I assure you, by the time you reach the end of this article, you would have ensured that you know your homonyms, but alas we can’t ensure you (forgive me for that!).
Assure
This is the easy one, we assure you that. It is a verb used for giving emphasis. This one is used to give assurance. Go ahead use this to placate someone’s fears and doubts or even yours. Its synonyms are affirmed and reassure. Remove all the doubts and insecurities with confidence, everything in control! Remember: In the United Kingdom and other countries of the Commonwealth, the word assurance can also refer to a particular type of insurance.
Ensure
Now use this verb when you know that something is going to happen or not. It’s definite. It’s a form of guarantee but with some certainty. Its synonyms are established, guarantee, and sure. It also refers to the action of securing a particular outcome for a situation. Like how you are ensuring you never interchange these verbs in the future by reading this.
Insure
When one insures something, one covers it with an insurance policy. This is a guarantee with compensation. You are about to get protected, well once you undertake the necessary measures and precautions. It also has a secondary meaning “to make sure of something.” Its synonyms are ‘safeguard’ and ‘indemnify’. While ensure and insure are similar and often interchangeable, insure is always used in a commercial sense.
Examples
Assure-
I assure you that the movie is very boring.
The politician assured the aggrieved public that prompt action will be taken.
Your hamster is perfectly safe, I can assure you.
My mother was worried that I had forgotten to lock the house, but I assured her that I had done so.
Ensure-
I need to study harder to ensure that I top the exam.
The year-end bonus ensured that she could treat her family out to a fancy meal.
The lawyer ensured that her client won the case.
He brought a dozen of ink bottles to ensure he wouldn’t run out of ink.
Insure-
Under the law, I am bound to insure my car.
I have insured my business against uncertainties.
As I was insured I am entitled to certain compensation.
The venue is offering the option to insure your tickets for tomorrow’s event in case it is canceled.
How to Remember the Difference:
The assure vs. ensure vs. insure battle. We can assure you that all of us are at least once guilty of the crime of interchangeability. But these homophones have often stumped us. Though they all mean almost the same, keyword almost, they are not synonyms. Though they are based on the same Latin root, to secure, Different words, Different meanings. Assure is always used in context in regards to a person, Insure in regards to object and Ensure is used in regards to everything.
To assure is to tell someone everything is fine to ease their mind, to ensure is to make certain and to secure an action, and to insure is to protect financially, business, property, or person.
If you still feel confused when trying to decide if it is correct to assure your parents that you will ensure that the new work will leave you insured, you can relax.
