imitevsimiterWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set imite and imiter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
imite
6 ch
imiter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • imiteiimte · imiet · imitte · immite · imtie · miite
  • imiteriimter · imietr · imiterr · imitre · imitter · immiter · imtier · miiter

Frequency comparison

imite#18,506
imiter#11,786

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imite" and "imiter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\i.mit\ versus \i.mi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "imite" or "imiter"?
"imiter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,786 in our French list, against #18,506 for "imite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imite vs imiter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “imite” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list