Which to use
“impede” and “impose” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,197
- “impede” frequency rank
- #8,047
- “impose” frequency rank
- 32244
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | impede | impose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To get in the way of; to hinder. | To physically lay or place (something) on another thing; to deposit, to put, to set. |
Where the eye mixes impede and impose
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. impede and impose follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between impede and impose
A purely visual mix-up. impede (/ɪmˈpiːd/) and impose (/ɪmˈpəʊz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
impede is recorded at frequency rank #24,197, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪmˈpiːd/. impose is at rank #8,047, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪmˈpəʊz/.
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 32244, this pair ranks #339,471 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of impede vs impose
Shared letters: eimp. Private to "impede": d. Private to "impose": os.
"impede" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "impose" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "impede" for "impose" ever safe?
Frequency check: "impede" vs "impose" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "impede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "impose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #339,471 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "impede" and "impose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impede vs implode". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #339,471 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.