diff --git a/src/corefunctionality.jl b/src/corefunctionality.jl
index 911c270..8235c27 100644
--- a/src/corefunctionality.jl
+++ b/src/corefunctionality.jl
@@ -6,11 +6,9 @@
 
 # NOTE: This code is carefully optimised. Do not tweak it (for readability or otherwise) without benchmarking
 @inline function intern!(wkd::WeakKeyDict{K}, key)::K where K
-    kk::K = convert(K, key)
-
     lock(wkd.lock)
         # hand positioning the locks and unlocks (rather than do block or try finally, seems to be faster)
-    index = Base.ht_keyindex2(wkd.ht, kk) # returns index if present, or -index if not
+    index = Base.ht_keyindex2(wkd.ht, key) # returns index if present, or -index if not
     # note hash of weakref is equal to the hash of value, so avoid constructing it if not required
     if index > 0
         # found it
@@ -20,6 +18,7 @@
     else
         # Not found, so add it,
         # and mark it as a reference we track to delete!
+        kk::K = convert(K, key)
         finalizer(kk, wkd.finalizer) # finalizer is set on the strong ref
         @inbounds Base._setindex!(wkd.ht, nothing, WeakRef(kk), -index)
         unlock(wkd.lock)
@@ -40,19 +39,34 @@ end
 
 ###################################
 
+"""
+    intern(s::T)
+
+Return a reference to a interned instance of `s`,
+adding it to the interning pool if it did not already exist.
+"""
 function intern(s::T)::T where T
-    intern!(get_pool(T), s)
+    intern(T, s)
 end
 
-intern(s::String)=intern!(get_pool(String), s) # Break stack-overflow
+"""
+    intern(::Type{T}, s)
 
+Intern `s` as if it were type `T`, converting it if required.
+Note that this will lead to unexpected behavour if the type of `s`, and `T`,
+do not have equivalent equality and hash functions
+(i.e. this is not safe if `hash(s) != hash(convert(T, s))`).
+"""
+function intern(::Type{T}, s)::T where T
+    intern!(get_pool(T), s)
+end
 
 
 """
 Substrings are interned as their parent string type
 """
 function intern(substr::SubString{T})::T where T
-    intern(T(substr))
+    intern(T, substr)
 end
 
 
diff --git a/test/REQUIRE b/test/REQUIRE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52bb338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/REQUIRE
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+WeakRefStrings 0.4.4
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/all_kinds_of_types.jl b/test/all_kinds_of_types.jl
index 5b8607d..5bfc82f 100644
--- a/test/all_kinds_of_types.jl
+++ b/test/all_kinds_of_types.jl
@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@ using InternedStrings
     @test !(ex1==="ex")
     ex2 = intern("ex")
     @test ex1===ex2
+    ex3 = intern(String, "ex")
+    @test ex1===ex3
 
 
 
     @testset "type inference" begin
         @test ex1 isa String
+        @test ex2 isa String
         @inferred intern("ex")
+        @inferred intern(String, "ex")
     end
 end
 
@@ -21,17 +25,33 @@ end
 @testset "SubString" begin
     aa1, bb1, cc1 = intern.(split("aa bb cc"))
     aa2, bb2, cc2 = intern.(split("aa bb cc"))
+    aa3, bb3, cc3 = intern.(String, split("aa bb cc"))
 
     @test bb1=="bb"
     @test !(bb1==="bb")
     @test bb1===bb2
+    @test bb1===bb3
 
     @testset "type inference" begin
         @test intern(split("aa bb cc")[1]) isa String
         @inferred intern(split("aa bb cc")[1])
+        @test intern(String, split("aa bb cc")[1]) isa String
+        @inferred intern(String, split("aa bb cc")[1])
     end
 end
 
+@testset "WeakRefString" begin
+    using WeakRefStrings
+    s1 = "ex"
+    s2 = "ex"
+    ex1 = @inferred intern(String, WeakRefString(Vector{UInt8}(s1)))
+    @test ex1=="ex"
+    @test !(ex1===s1)
+    @test ex1 isa String
+    ex2 = @inferred intern(String, WeakRefString(Vector{UInt8}(s2)))
+    @test ex1===ex2
+end
+
 #== Uncomment when https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/26939  is fixed
 @testset "BigFloat" begin let
     pi1 = intern(BigFloat(π))