impasse

\ɛ̃.pɑs\

/\ɛ̃.pɑs\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“impasse” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,113. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,113
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Voie sans issue, cul-de-sac.

Corpus desk

Index FR-impasse · impasse · French

impasse · rank #8,113 · 8 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,113
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH homosexuels

Nearest frequency peer: homosexuels (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « impasse »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « impasse » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

impasse vs impose
71% similar
impasse vs imposée
71% similar
impasse vs impulse
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for impasse
PropertyValue
Headwordimpasse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ̃.pɑs\
Letters7
Frequency rank#8,113
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « impasse »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.impassese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « homosexuels » (#8,112), « incidents » (#8,114), « informatiques » (#8,115). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « impasse » est au #8,113. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around impasse (IPA \ɛ̃.pɑs\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,113 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for impasse, with forms such as "imapsse", "immpasse", and "impase". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "impose", "imposée", "impulse", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is impasse, spelled I-M-P-A-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Voie sans issue, cul-de-sac.
  2. 2
    Situation bloquée ou sans issue.
  3. 3
    Manœuvre consistant à prendre une carte à un adversaire en posant une carte intermédiaire, souvent utilisée au jeu de bridge.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how impasse appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Peut-être le chauffeur allait-il m'entraîner au fond d'une impasse et m'assommer.
  2. L’inspecteur vous aura dit que j’étais une fille de rien, est-ce vrai ? Que je courais les hommes comme une chienne ? Oui ? que je vous empaumais sans doute ? consciente de l’impasse où je vous acculais ?

This word in other languages

cul-de-sac(English)callejón sin salida(Español)Sackgasse(Deutsch)beco sem saída(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • imapsse
  • immpasse
  • impase
  • impases
  • imppasse
  • impsase
  • ipmasse
  • mipasse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of impasse - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

imapsse2immpasse1impase1impases2imppasse1impsase2ipmasse2mipasse2
Edit distance from "impasse"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "impasse"?
"impasse" is spelled I-M-P-A-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.pɑs\.
What does "impasse" mean?
As a noun, "impasse" means: Voie sans issue, cul-de-sac.
What words are commonly confused with "impasse"?
"impasse" is commonly confused with "impose", "imposée", "impulse". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "impasse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "impasse" is \ɛ̃.pɑs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "impasse" come from?
"impasse" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "impasse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

détente#8,103déplacé#8,100perdant#8,132couture#8,088

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

loisir8 variantsotages8 variantsradios8 variantscession8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list