imprudencevsimprudentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: imprudence is a noun, imprudent is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“imprudence” is a noun and “imprudent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,010
“imprudence” frequency rank
#28,203
“imprudent” frequency rank
60213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imprudence imprudent
Definition Défaut de prudence. Qui manque de prudence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set imprudence and imprudent apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
imprudence
9 ch
imprudent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: imprudence is \ɛ̃.pʁy.dɑ̃s\ while imprudent is \ɛ̃.pʁy.dɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imprudence is recorded at frequency rank #32,010, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁy.dɑ̃s\. imprudent is at rank #28,203, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁy.dɑ̃\.

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 60213, this pair ranks #98,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of imprudence vs imprudent

Shared letters: deimnpru. Private to "imprudence": c. Private to "imprudent": t.

"imprudence" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCV  ·  "imprudent" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imprudenceimmprudence · impprudence · imprduence · imprrudence · impruddence · imprudecne · imprudencce · imprudenec
  • imprudentimmprudent · impprudent · imprduent · imprrudent · impruddent · imprudennt · imprudentt · imprudetn

Frequency comparison

imprudence#32,010
imprudent#28,203

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imprudence" and "imprudent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imprudence" is a noun and "imprudent" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "imprudence" or "imprudent"?
"imprudent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,203 in our French list, against #32,010 for "imprudence". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imprudence vs imprudent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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