impagablevsimparableWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“impagable” and “imparable” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,786
“impagable” frequency rank
#17,991
“imparable” frequency rank
62777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature impagable imparable
Definition Imposible de pagar, debido generalmente a su elevado costo, precio o tarifa. Que es imposible o muy difícil de detener, parar o hacer que cese en su avance, movimiento o acción.

Where the eye mixes impagable and imparable

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
impagable
9 ch
imparable

Why the eye confuses impagable with imparable

A purely visual mix-up. impagable ([ĩmpaˈɣ̞aβ̞le]) and imparable ([ĩmpaˈɾaβ̞le]) 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 a single letter - g in “impagable” becomes r in “imparable”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

impagable is recorded at frequency rank #44,786, classified as anadj, pronounced [ĩmpaˈɣ̞aβ̞le]. imparable is at rank #17,991, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ĩmpaˈɾaβ̞le].

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 62777, this pair ranks #50,869 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of impagable vs imparable

Shared letters: abeilmp. Private to "impagable": g. Private to "imparable": r.

"impagable" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "imparable" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • impagableimapgable · immpagable · impaagble · impagabble · impagabel · impagablle · impagalbe · impagavle
  • imparableimaprable · immparable · impaarble · imparabble · imparabel · imparablle · imparalbe · imparavle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "impagable" for "imparable" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmpaˈɣ̞aβ̞le] versus [ĩmpaˈɾaβ̞le]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "impagable" or "imparable" show up more?
"imparable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,991 in our Spanish list, against #44,786 for "impagable". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "impagable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imparable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,869 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "impagable" and "imparable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impagable vs impasible". 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 #50,869 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list