Which to use
“imitations” and “invitations” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,004
- “imitations” frequency rank
- #16,162
- “invitations” frequency rank
- 48166
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imitations | invitations |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de imitation. | Pluriel de invitation. |
Where the eye mixes imitations and invitations
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses imitations with invitations
A purely visual mix-up. imitations (\i.mi.ta.sjɔ̃\) and invitations (\ɛ̃.vi.ta.sjɔ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imitations is recorded at frequency rank #32,004, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.mi.ta.sjɔ̃\. invitations is at rank #16,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.vi.ta.sjɔ̃\.
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 48166, this pair ranks #181,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of imitations vs invitations
Shared letters: ainost. Private to "imitations": m. Private to "invitations": v.
"imitations" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVVCC · "invitations" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- imitations ← iimtations · imiattions · imitaitons · imitatinos · imitationns · imitationss · imitatiosn · imitatoins
- invitations ← inivtations · innvitations · inviattions · invitaitons · invitatinos · invitationns · invitationss · invitatiosn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "imitations" and "invitations" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "imitations" or "invitations" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "imitations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "invitations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imitations" and "invitations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imitations vs irritations". 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 #181,110 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.