Compel or impel?
compel is a verb meaning “To overpower; to subdue”; impel is a verb meaning “To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) compel is about 8.3 times as common as impel.
What is the difference between compel and impel?
| compel | impel | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | verb |
| Meaning | To overpower; to subdue To force, constrain, or coerce | To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation To drive forward; to propel an object, to provide an impetus for motion or action |
| Example | The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall | The wind impelled the kayaks toward the shore |
| Forms | compels, compelling, compelled | impels, impelling, impelled |
| Pronunciation | /kəmˈpɛl/ | /ɪmˈpɛl/ |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words | about once in every 4 million words |
Sources: compel and impel in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of compel and impel
compel
- 1
To overpower; to subdue
- 2
To force, constrain, or coerce
Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions
- 3
To forcefully or powerfully motivate (a course of action)
- 4
To have a strong, irresistible force (on someone or something)
- 5
To exact, extort, (make) produce by force
impel
- 1
To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation
- 2
To drive forward; to propel an object, to provide an impetus for motion or action
The wind impelled the kayaks toward the shore
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, compel or impel?
compel appears 1.9 times per million words; impel about once in every 4 million words.
compel 1.9 times per million wordsimpel about once in every 4 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search compel vs impel?
“compel vs impel” is searched about 1,300 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“impel vs compel”, “compel or impel”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.