imposantvsimposantsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,578
“imposant” frequency rank
#35,091
“imposants” frequency rank
42669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imposant imposants
Definition Qui impose, qui est propre à s’attirer de l’attention, des égards, du respect. Masculin pluriel de imposant.

Where the eye mixes imposant and imposants

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. imposant runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCC) against imposants's 9 (VCCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
imposant
9 ch
imposants

Why the eye confuses imposant with imposants

A purely visual mix-up. imposant (\ɛ̃.po.zɑ̃\) 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 extra letter(s) - “imposant” sits inside “imposants”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imposant is recorded at frequency rank #7,578, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.po.zɑ̃\. 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 42669, this pair ranks #223,863 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imposant vs imposants

Shared letters: aimnopst. Private to "imposant": -. Private to "imposants": -.

"imposant" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "imposants" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imposant ← immposant · imopsant · impoasnt · imposannt · imposantt · imposatn · imposnat · impossant
  • imposants ← immposants · imopsants · impoasnts · imposannts · imposanst · imposantss · imposantts · imposatns

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "imposant" and "imposants" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.po.zɑ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.pɔ.zɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "imposant" vs "imposants" - which ranks higher?
"imposant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,578 in our French list, against #35,091 for "imposants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "imposant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imposants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,863 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imposant" and "imposants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imposantes vs imposants". 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 #223,863 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