Ensure, Insure, Assure - confused yet?

Well, if you are, who could blame you? 

I have found these three words confounding to just about everybody. Recently an organization asked me to review their web site content. I found all three of those “sure” words on one page; one of them was used correctly. It’s no wonder people have trouble. The words are so similar in spelling and pronunciation and even in meaning, and they’re all just ordinary, useful words that find their way, appropriately, into our daily vocabulary.

I don’t blame this confusion on anyone’s intention to be “innovative” or even on the tsunami of excessive messaging I so deplore. I think these three words are just hard to get. So I’m going to explain how to use them correctly for precise, accurate communication, because they really are different from each other and are not interchangeable (although dictionary.com seems a little fuzzy about that point). Correctly applied, each word communicates a slightly different meaning about “sure”-ness.

To assure is to inform or tell positively, to cause someone to know surely. For example:

·      I assure you, that file is not in this office.

·      The chairman assured me I would be given a chance to explain.

·      That announcement should assure you that the bus will arrive imminently.

To ensure is to secure or guarantee something will happen, to make certain it does. For example:

·      I searched the entire office to ensure the file had not been simply misplaced.

·      He ensured that I would have a place on the agenda by penciling me in.

·      The driver stepped it up a bit to ensure the bus would arrive on time.

To insure is to secure or guarantee against loss. For example:

·      Even the company that insures us can’t find the missing file.

·      Lacking insurance, I wanted to explain the cause of the damage before the situation got out of hand.

·      The bus driver is insured by Aetna.

If we put those three stories together as vignettes, we might better see the small but important difference among the three words: ensure, insure, assure. Here we go, first about the missing file, then the chance to explain damage, and finally the bus and its driver.

1. I assure you, that file is not in this office. I searched the entire office to ensure the file had not been simply misplaced. Even the company that insures us can’t find the missing file.

2. The chairman assured me I would be given a chance to explain. He ensured that I would have a place on the agenda by penciling me in. Lacking insurance, I wanted to explain the cause of the damage before the situation got out of hand.

3. That announcement should assure you that the bus will arrive imminently. The driver stepped it up a bit to ensure the bus would arrive on time. The bus driver is insured by Aetna.

So, a quick summary that might be helpful:

• Assure – make them know.
• Ensure – make it happen.
• Insure – put up protection or security against loss. (Frankly, I would leave “insuring” to the insurance companies. It usually involves money.)

Does that help? Do you care? I do, because those three words, each used with care and precision, provide nuance and clarity and accuracy in our communication, and I care about those things.