Which to use
“impair” and “impairs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,687
- “impair” frequency rank
- #46,223
- “impairs” frequency rank
- 71910
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | impair | impairs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas pair, qui n’est pas divisible par deux, en parlant d’un nombre entier. | Masculin pluriel de impair. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set impair and impairs apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
This is the hard kind. impair and impairs are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.pɛʁ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “impair” sits inside “impairs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
impair is recorded at frequency rank #25,687, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɛʁ\. impairs is at rank #46,223, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɛʁ\.
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 71910, this pair ranks #45,840 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of impair vs impairs
Shared letters: aimpr. Private to "impair": -. Private to "impairs": s.
"impair" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "impairs" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "impair" and "impairs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "impair" or "impairs"?
Remembering impair vs impairs
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 “impair” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable