imposéevsimposerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: imposée is a adjective, imposer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“imposée” is an adjective and “imposer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,976
“imposée” frequency rank
#2,580
“imposer” frequency rank
10556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imposée imposer
Definition Féminin singulier de imposé. Mettre dessus.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set imposée and imposer apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
imposée
7 ch
imposer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: imposée and imposer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.po.ze\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imposée is recorded at frequency rank #7,976, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.po.ze\. 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 10556, this pair ranks #412,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of imposée vs imposer

Shared letters: eimops. Private to "imposée": é. Private to "imposer": r.

"imposée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "imposer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imposerimmposer · imopser · impoesr · imposerr · imposre · imposser · impposer · impsoer

Frequency comparison

imposée#7,976
imposer#2,580

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imposée" and "imposer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imposée" is an adjective and "imposer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "imposée" or "imposer"?
"imposer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,580 in our French list, against #7,976 for "imposée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imposée vs imposer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “imposée”; for a verb, it's “imposer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “imposée” 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