imminentvsimminenteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“imminent” and “imminente” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,776
“imminent” frequency rank
#14,700
“imminente” frequency rank
33476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imminent imminente
Definition Qui menace de survenir, en parlant d’un danger, d’un événement redouté. Féminin singulier de imminent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set imminent and imminente apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
imminent
9 ch
imminente

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. imminent (\i.mi.nɑ̃\) and imminente (\i.mi.nɑ̃t\) 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) - “imminent” sits inside “imminente”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imminent is recorded at frequency rank #18,776, classified as anadj, pronounced \i.mi.nɑ̃\. imminente is at rank #14,700, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.mi.nɑ̃t\.

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 33476, this pair ranks #290,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imminent vs imminente

Shared letters: eimnt. Private to "imminent": -. Private to "imminente": -.

"imminent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "imminente" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imminentimimnent · iminent · immiennt · imminennt · imminentt · imminetn · imminnent · imminnet
  • imminenteimimnente · iminente · immiennte · imminenet · imminennte · imminentte · imminetne · imminnente

Frequency comparison

imminent#18,776
imminente#14,700

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imminent" and "imminente" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\i.mi.nɑ̃\ versus \i.mi.nɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "imminent" or "imminente"?
"imminente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,700 in our French list, against #18,776 for "imminent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imminent vs imminente

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 “imminent” 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