impossible

\ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl\

/\ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl\/ adj

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

The verdict

“impossible” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #878. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#878
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui ne peut être ; qui ne se peut faire.

Corpus desk

Index FR-impossible · impossible · French

impossible · rank #878 · 13 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #878
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH heureux

Nearest frequency peer: heureux (-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 « impossible »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « impossible » 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).

impossible vs impossibles
91% similar
impossible vs imposable
80% similar
impossible vs impassible
90% similar

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

Key facts for impossible
PropertyValue
Headwordimpossible
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl\
Letters10
Frequency rank#878
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « impossible »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.impossiblese 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 « heureux » (#877), « joueur » (#879), « finale » (#876). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « impossible » est au #878. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around impossible (IPA \ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #878 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for impossible, with forms such as "immpossible", "imopssible", and "imposible". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "impossibles", "imposable", "impassible", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is impossible, spelled I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui ne peut être ; qui ne se peut faire.
  2. 2
    Invraisemblable.
  3. 3
    Insupportable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le 31 octobre 1887, on avait parlé dans cette assemblée, non de supprimer les fêtes foraines, mais de les rendre impossibles en y interdisant la musique.
  2. Bert se hâta de les suivre, mais il lui fut impossible d’avancer assez vite et assez subrepticement pour surprendre en quel endroit ils avaient caché les vivres.

Synonyms

irréalisable

This word in other languages

impossible(English)imposible(Español)unmöglich(Deutsch)impossível(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • immpossible
  • imopssible
  • imposible
  • imposisble
  • impossbile
  • impossibble
  • impossibel
  • impossiblle
  • impossilbe
  • imppossible
  • impsosible
  • ipmossible
  • mipossible

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of impossible - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

immpossible1imopssible2imposible1imposisble2impossbile2impossibble1impossibel2impossiblle1
Edit distance from "impossible"

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 "impossible"?
"impossible" is spelled I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl\.
What does "impossible" mean?
As an adjective, "impossible" means: Qui ne peut être ; qui ne se peut faire.
What words are commonly confused with "impossible"?
"impossible" is commonly confused with "impossibles", "imposable", "impassible". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "impossible"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "impossible" is \ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "impossible" come from?
"impossible" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "impossible", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

nécessaire#881rapidement#828nombreuses#806communauté#802

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

technique13 variantsprochaine13 variantscomprend13 variantsretrouver13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list