Which to use
“impose” and “imposer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,579
- “impose” frequency rank
- #2,580
- “imposer” frequency rank
- 5159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | impose | imposer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de imposer. | Mettre dessus. |
Where the eye mixes impose and imposer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. impose runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against imposer's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: impose vs imposer
A purely visual mix-up. impose (\ɛ̃.poz\) and imposer (\ɛ̃.po.ze\) 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) - “impose” sits inside “imposer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
impose is recorded at frequency rank #2,579, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.poz\. imposer is at rank #2,580, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.po.ze\.
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 5159, this pair ranks #429,743 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of impose vs imposer
Shared letters: eimops. Private to "impose": -. Private to "imposer": r.
"impose" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "imposer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "impose" for "imposer" ever safe?
Which is more common, "impose" or "imposer"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "impose" and "imposer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "impose" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "imposer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,743 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "impose" and "imposer" 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 #429,743 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.