imposablevsimprobableTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,317
“imposable” frequency rank
#9,676
“improbable” frequency rank
28993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imposable improbable
Definition Qui peut être soumis aux impositions. Qui n’a pas de probabilité ; qui n’est pas probable.

Where the eye mixes imposable and improbable

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
imposable
10 ch
improbable

Why the eye confuses imposable with improbable

A purely visual mix-up. imposable (\ɛ̃.po.zabl\) and improbable (\ɛ̃.pʁɔ.babl\) 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 28993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imposable is recorded at frequency rank #19,317, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.po.zabl\. improbable is at rank #9,676, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁɔ.babl\.

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 28993, this pair ranks #319,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imposable vs improbable

Shared letters: abeilmop. Private to "imposable": s. Private to "improbable": r.

"imposable" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "improbable" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imposableimmposable · imopsable · impoasble · imposabble · imposabel · imposablle · imposalbe · imposbale
  • improbableimmprobable · imporbable · impprobable · imprboable · improabble · improbabble · improbabel · improbablle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imposable" and "improbable" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.po.zabl\ versus \ɛ̃.pʁɔ.babl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "imposable" vs "improbable" - which ranks higher?
"improbable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,676 in our French list, against #19,317 for "imposable". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "imposable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "improbable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #319,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imposable" and "improbable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imparable vs imposable". 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 #319,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list