instead作副词，是“代替”、“顶替”的意思。如：
Mr. Wang is ill, I will take his class instead．
instead of为介词短语，它后面可跟名词、代词、动名词、介词短语或形容词等。如：
(1)I will clean the window instead of him.
(2)We will skate instead of playing football.
扩展材料：
instead of和instead中文意思接近，都可以翻译成“代替”“替代”，但性质和用法不同。
instead of和instead的区别
1、词性不一样，instead of是介词短语，后接名词或动名词；instead是副词，修饰动词或句子。举例如下：
instead of going home，he chose to help others with their study.
not going home，he chose to help others with their study instead.
2、用法不同
instead of可以独立构成短语作状语、同位语以及其他平行结构，语义明确；
he chose to help others instead of going home，与help others 并列。
instead of staying home，he prefers playing with his mates，作状语修饰主句。
instead只能修饰动词或句子，语义不明确，由主句确定；
because his classmates can't deal with homework，he chose to help others with their study instead.这里，instead没有语义。
He didn't answer me but ，instead，asked another ， 强调asked another。