imitevsinviteTell them apart

Quick tell: imite is a verb, invite is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“imite” is a verb and “invite” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,506
“imite” frequency rank
#2,581
“invite” frequency rank
21087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imite invite
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de imiter. Invitation.

Where the eye mixes imite and invite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
imite
6 ch
invite

Visual trap between imite and invite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: imite is \i.mit\ while invite is \ɛ̃.vit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21087, 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\. invite is at rank #2,581, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.vit\.

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 21087, this pair ranks #364,931 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of imite vs invite

Shared letters: eit. Private to "imite": m. Private to "invite": nv.

"imite" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "invite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imiteiimte · imiet · imitte · immite · imtie · miite
  • inviteinivte · innvite · inviet · invitte · invtie · invvite · ivnite · nivite

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imite" and "invite" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imite" is a verb and "invite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "imite" or "invite" show up more?
"invite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,581 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "imite" and "invite" 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 "invite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #364,931 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imite" and "invite" 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 #364,931 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list