Which to use
“imp” and “impôt” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,907
- “imp” frequency rank
- #2,227
- “impôt” frequency rank
- 19134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imp | impôt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Jeune pousse de plante, scion, greffe. | Prélèvement pécuniaire, établi par la loi, obligatoire et sans contrepartie directe, perçu par l’État ou les collectivités publiques afin de financer les dépenses publiques. |
Where the eye mixes imp and impôt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses imp with impôt
A purely visual mix-up. imp (\ɪmp\) and impôt (\ɛ̃.po\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “imp” sits inside “impôt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imp is recorded at frequency rank #16,907, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɪmp\. impôt is at rank #2,227, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.po\.
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 19134, this pair ranks #374,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of imp vs impôt
Shared letters: imp. Private to "imp": -. Private to "impôt": tô.
"imp" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "impôt" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "imp" for "impôt" ever safe?
Which is more common, "imp" or "impôt"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "imp" and "impôt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "imp" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "impôt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imp" and "impôt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imp vs isi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #374,810 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.