impartvsimportsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: impart is a verb, imports is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“impart” is a verb and “imports” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,792
“impart” frequency rank
#8,557
“imports” frequency rank
34349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature impart imports
Definition To give or bestow (e.g. a quality or property). plural of import

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set impart and imports apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
impart
7 ch
imports

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: impart is averb and importsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

impart is recorded at frequency rank #25,792, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪmˈpɑːt/. imports is at rank #8,557, tagged as anoun.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 34349, this pair ranks #321,610 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of impart vs imports

Shared letters: imprt. Private to "impart": a. Private to "imports": os.

"impart" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "imports" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • impartimaprt · immpart · imparrt · impartt · impatr · imppart · imprat · ipmart
  • importsimmports · imoprts · imporrts · imporst · importss · importts · impotrs · impports

Frequency comparison

impart#25,792
imports#8,557

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "impart" and "imports" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "impart" is a verb and "imports" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "impart" or "imports"?
"imports" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,557 in our English list, against #25,792 for "impart". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering impart vs imports

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “impart”; for a noun, it's “imports”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “impart” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list