intéresservsinterposerConfusable pair

Which to use

“intéresser” and “interposer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,866
“intéresser” frequency rank
#36,007
“interposer” frequency rank
40873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intéresser interposer
Definition Mêler, concerner, faire intervenir. Mettre une chose entre deux autres.

Where the eye mixes intéresser and interposer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

10 ch
intéresser
10 ch
interposer

Visual trap between intéresser and interposer

A purely visual mix-up. intéresser (\ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.se\) and interposer (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intéresser is recorded at frequency rank #4,866, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.se\. interposer is at rank #36,007, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.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 40873, this pair ranks #237,278 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of intéresser vs interposer

Shared letters: einrst. Private to "intéresser": é. Private to "interposer": op.

"intéresser" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "interposer" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interposerinetrposer · innterposer · inteproser · interopser · interpoesr · interposerr · interposre · interposser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "intéresser" for "interposer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.se\ versus \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.po.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "intéresser" or "interposer"?
"intéresser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,866 in our French list, against #36,007 for "interposer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intéresser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interposer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #237,278 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intéresser" and "interposer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interpose vs interposer". 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 #237,278 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list