Getting deep inside: Embed vs. Imbed

Sometimes different spellings of a single word arise. Such is the case with embed and imbed.

The verb embed means to root, plant or place something deeply within another thing. For example, The United States media often embeds reporters within military units during war.

Imbed means exactly the same thing and is merely a variant spelling.

One spelling is no more correct than the other. But usage trends show that since the early 1960s, embed increasingly has been used with more frequently than imbed. Because of this, going with embed is your best bet.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.