imponevsimponerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,574
“impone” frequency rank
#4,715
“imponer” frequency rank
12289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature impone imponer
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de imponer. Poner a alguien en la obligación de cumplir con una carga, impuesto, trabajo, deber u otra exigencia.

Where the eye mixes impone and imponer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
impone
7 ch
imponer

Why the eye confuses impone with imponer

A purely visual mix-up. impone ([ĩmˈpone]) and imponer ([ĩmpoˈneɾ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “impone” sits inside “imponer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

impone is recorded at frequency rank #7,574, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpone]. imponer is at rank #4,715, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmpoˈneɾ].

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 12289, this pair ranks #292,054 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of impone vs imponer

Shared letters: eimnop. Private to "impone": -. Private to "imponer": r.

"impone" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "imponer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imponeimmpone · imopne · impnoe · impoen · imponne · imppone · ipmone · mipone
  • imponerimmponer · imopner · impnoer · impoenr · imponerr · imponner · imponre · impponer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "impone" and "imponer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmˈpone] versus [ĩmpoˈneɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "impone" or "imponer"?
"imponer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,715 in our Spanish list, against #7,574 for "impone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "impone" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imponer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #292,054 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "impone" and "imponer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impone vs import". 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 #292,054 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