Which to use
“imite” and “imiter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,506
- “imite” frequency rank
- #11,786
- “imiter” frequency rank
- 30292
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imite | imiter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de imiter. | Faire ou s’efforcer de faire exactement la même chose que fait une personne. |
Where the eye mixes imite and imiter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. imite runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against imiter's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses imite with imiter
A purely visual mix-up. imite (\i.mit\) and imiter (\i.mi.te\) 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) - “imite” sits inside “imiter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imite is recorded at frequency rank #18,506, classified as averb, pronounced \i.mit\. imiter is at rank #11,786, tagged as averb, pronounced \i.mi.te\.
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 30292, this pair ranks #311,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of imite vs imiter
Shared letters: eimt. Private to "imite": -. Private to "imiter": r.
"imite" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "imiter" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "imite" and "imiter" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "imite" or "imiter"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "imite" and "imiter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "imite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "imiter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #311,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imite" and "imiter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs imite". 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 #311,324 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.