implorevsimposeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“implore” and “impose” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,351
“implore” frequency rank
#8,047
“impose” frequency rank
43398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature implore impose
Definition To beg or plead for (something) earnestly or urgently; to beseech. To physically lay or place (something) on another thing; to deposit, to put, to set.

Where the eye mixes implore and impose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
implore
6 ch
impose

Why the eye confuses implore with impose

A purely visual mix-up. implore (/ɪmˈplɔː/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

implore is recorded at frequency rank #35,351, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪmˈplɔː/. 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 43398, this pair ranks #240,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of implore vs impose

Shared letters: eimop. Private to "implore": lr. Private to "impose": s.

"implore" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "impose" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imploreimlpore · immplore · impllore · imploer · implorre · implroe · impolre · impplore
  • imposeimmpose · imopse · impoes · imposse · imppose · impsoe · ipmose · mipose

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "implore" for "impose" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪmˈplɔː/ versus /ɪmˈpəʊz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "implore" or "impose"?
"impose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,047 in our English list, against #35,351 for "implore". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "implore" and "impose" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "implore" 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 #240,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "implore" and "impose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "implode vs implore". 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 #240,349 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list