Which to use
“importait” is a verb and “important” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,842
- “importait” frequency rank
- #478
- “important” frequency rank
- 28320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | importait | important |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de importer. | Qui importe ; qui est majeur, conséquent, considérable ou d’un grand intérêt. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set importait and important apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
importait and important form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - i in “importait” becomes n in “important” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
importait is recorded at frequency rank #27,842, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɛ\. important is at rank #478, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃\.
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 28320, this pair ranks #323,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "importait" and "important" be used interchangeably?
Remembering importait vs important
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “importait”; for an adjective, it's “important”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “importait” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable