importantsvsimposantsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“importants” and “imposants” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,870
“importants” frequency rank
#35,091
“imposants” frequency rank
36961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importants imposants
Definition Masculin pluriel de important. Masculin pluriel de imposant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set importants and imposants apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
importants
9 ch
imposants

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. importants (\ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃\) and imposants (\ɛ̃.pɔ.zɑ̃\) 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 36961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

importants is recorded at frequency rank #1,870, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃\. imposants is at rank #35,091, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɔ.zɑ̃\.

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 36961, this pair ranks #265,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of importants vs imposants

Shared letters: aimnopst. Private to "importants": r. Private to "imposants": -.

"importants" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCC  ·  "imposants" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importantsimmportants · imoprtants · imporatnts · imporrtants · importannts · importanst · importantss · importantts
  • imposantsimmposants · imopsants · impoasnts · imposannts · imposanst · imposantss · imposantts · imposatns

Frequency comparison

importants#1,870
imposants#35,091

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "importants" and "imposants" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.pɔ.zɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "importants" or "imposants"?
"importants" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,870 in our French list, against #35,091 for "imposants". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering importants vs imposants

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 “importants” 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