Which to use
“impair” and “impie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,687
- “impair” frequency rank
- #30,212
- “impie” frequency rank
- 55899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | impair | impie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas pair, qui n’est pas divisible par deux, en parlant d’un nombre entier. | Incroyant, blasphématoire, qui a du mépris pour les choses de la religion. |
Where the eye mixes impair and impie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. impair runs 6 letters (VCCVVC) against impie's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between impair and impie
A purely visual mix-up. impair (\ɛ̃.pɛʁ\) and impie (\ɛ̃.pi\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55899, 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\. impie is at rank #30,212, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pi\.
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 55899, this pair ranks #124,478 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of impair vs impie
Shared letters: imp. Private to "impair": ar. Private to "impie": e.
"impair" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "impie" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "impair" for "impie" ever safe?
Which is more common, "impair" or "impie"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "impair" and "impie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "impair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "impie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #124,478 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "impair" and "impie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs impie". 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 #124,478 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.