impérialevsimpérialesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: impériale is a noun, impériales is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“impériale” is a noun and “impériales” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,450
“impériale” frequency rank
#23,898
“impériales” frequency rank
31348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature impériale impériales
Definition Monnaie d’or du poids de quatre deniers quatre grains (100 grains, ou grammes 5,32) et au titre de vingt-trois carats trois quarts (0, 99). Féminin pluriel de impérial.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set impériale and impériales apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
impériale
10 ch
impériales

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: impériale and impériales carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.pe.ʁjal\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “impériale” sits inside “impériales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

impériale is recorded at frequency rank #7,450, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.pe.ʁjal\. impériales is at rank #23,898, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pe.ʁjal\.

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 31348, this pair ranks #304,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of impériale vs impériales

Shared letters: aeilmpré. Private to "impériale": -. Private to "impériales": s.

"impériale" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVCV  ·  "impériales" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVVCVC

Frequency comparison

impériale#7,450
impériales#23,898

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "impériale" and "impériales" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "impériale" is a noun and "impériales" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "impériale" or "impériales"?
"impériale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,450 in our French list, against #23,898 for "impériales". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering impériale vs impériales

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “impériale”; for an adjective, it's “impériales”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “impériale” 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