imposter vs impostor

Side by side

imposter or impostor?

What is the difference between imposter and impostor?

imposter means "a person who makes deceitful pretenses". impostor means "a person who makes deceitful pretenses". They are pronounced identically — /ˌɪmˈpɔstɚ/ — so only the spelling and the meaning separate them.

Which is more common, imposter or impostor?

Neither is markedly more common — both sit in the "Familiar" band.

Are imposter and impostor pronounced the same?

Yes. Both are /ˌɪmˈpɔstɚ/, said im-PAW-stur. Words that sound alike and are spelled differently are homophones, and they are the commonest source of written mix-ups in English.

Can imposter and impostor be used in the same place in a sentence?

Both work as nouns, so they are grammatically interchangeable. That is exactly what makes the meaning difference worth checking.

Full entry for imposter · Full entry for impostor · More comparisons