Which to use
“imagine” and “imaginer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,524
- “imagine” frequency rank
- #2,481
- “imaginer” frequency rank
- 4005
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imagine | imaginer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de imaginer. | Se représenter quelque chose dans l’esprit. |
Where the eye mixes imagine and imaginer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. imagine runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against imaginer's 8 (VCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses imagine with imaginer
A purely visual mix-up. imagine (\i.ma.ʒin\) and imaginer (\i.ma.ʒi.ne\) 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) - “imagine” sits inside “imaginer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imagine is recorded at frequency rank #1,524, classified as averb, pronounced \i.ma.ʒin\. imaginer is at rank #2,481, tagged as averb, pronounced \i.ma.ʒi.ne\.
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 4005, this pair ranks #432,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of imagine vs imaginer
Shared letters: aegimn. Private to "imagine": -. Private to "imaginer": r.
"imagine" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "imaginer" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "imagine" and "imaginer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "imagine" vs "imaginer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "imagine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "imaginer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imagine" and "imaginer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imagée vs imagine". 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 #432,686 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.