imprégnervsimprégnésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: imprégner is a verb, imprégnés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#33,733
“imprégner” frequency rank
#47,953
“imprégnés” frequency rank
81686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imprégner imprégnés
Definition Féconder ; rendre prégnant. Masculin pluriel de imprégné.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set imprégner and imprégnés apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
imprégner
9 ch
imprégnés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: imprégner and imprégnés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.pʁe.ɲe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, 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 81686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imprégner is recorded at frequency rank #33,733, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁe.ɲe\. imprégnés is at rank #47,953, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁe.ɲe\.

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 81686, this pair ranks #18,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of imprégner vs imprégnés

Shared letters: gimnpré. Private to "imprégner": e. Private to "imprégnés": s.

"imprégner" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC  ·  "imprégnés" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

imprégner#33,733
imprégnés#47,953

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imprégner" and "imprégnés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imprégner" is a verb and "imprégnés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "imprégner" or "imprégnés"?
"imprégner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,733 in our French list, against #47,953 for "imprégnés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imprégner vs imprégnés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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