importevsimpôtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: importe is a verb, impôt is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“importe” is a verb and “impôt” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#462
“importe” frequency rank
#2,227
“impôt” frequency rank
2689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importe impôt
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de importer. Prélèvement pécuniaire, établi par la loi, obligatoire et sans contrepartie directe, perçu par l’État ou les collectivités publiques afin de financer les dépenses publiques.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set importe and impôt apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
importe
5 ch
impôt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

importe and impôt 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 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2689, 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\. impôt is at rank #2,227, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.po\.

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 2689, this pair ranks #435,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

importe#462
impôt#2,227

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "importe" and "impôt" be used interchangeably?
No, "importe" and "impôt" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering importe vs impôt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “importe”; for a noun, it's “impôt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “importe” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list