Which to use
“importe” and “impose” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #462
- “importe” frequency rank
- #2,579
- “impose” frequency rank
- 3041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | importe | impose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de importer. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de imposer. |
Where the eye mixes importe and impose
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between importe and impose
A purely visual mix-up. importe (\ɛ̃.pɔʁt\) and impose (\ɛ̃.poz\) 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 3041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
importe is recorded at frequency rank #462, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɔʁt\. impose is at rank #2,579, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.poz\.
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 3041, this pair ranks #434,930 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of importe vs impose
Shared letters: eimop. Private to "importe": rt. Private to "impose": s.
"importe" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "impose" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "importe" for "impose" ever safe?
Frequency check: "importe" vs "impose" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "importe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "impose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,930 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "importe" and "impose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impose vs impulse". 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 #434,930 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.