imprimervsimprimésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,579
“imprimer” frequency rank
#10,893
“imprimés” frequency rank
18472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imprimer imprimés
Definition Faire ou laisser une empreinte sur quelque chose, y marquer des traits, une figure. Masculin pluriel de imprimé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
imprimer
8 ch
imprimés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: imprimer and imprimés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.pʁi.me\. 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 18472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imprimer is recorded at frequency rank #7,579, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁi.me\. imprimés is at rank #10,893, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁi.me\.

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 18472, this pair ranks #378,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of imprimer vs imprimés

Shared letters: impr. Private to "imprimer": e. Private to "imprimés": .

"imprimer" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "imprimés" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imprimerimmprimer · impirmer · impprimer · impriemr · imprimerr · imprimmer · imprimre · imprmier

Frequency comparison

imprimer#7,579
imprimés#10,893

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imprimer" and "imprimés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imprimer" is a verb and "imprimés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "imprimer" or "imprimés"?
"imprimer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,579 in our French list, against #10,893 for "imprimés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imprimer vs imprimés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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