vicevsvisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“vice” and “vis” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,622
“vice” frequency rank
#23,775
“vis” frequency rank
36397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vice vis
Definition Laster, Untugend Schraube

Same sound, different letters: vice vs vis

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.

4 ch
vice
3 ch
vis

Ear matches; page differs - vice and vis

This is the hard kind. vice and vis are pronounced identically ([vis]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vice is recorded at frequency rank #12,622, classified as anoun, pronounced [vis]. vis is at rank #23,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vis].

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 36397, this pair ranks #1,616,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vice vs vis

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vice": ce. Private to "vis": s.

"vice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viceivce · vcie · vicce · viec · vvice

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vice" for "vis" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same ([vis]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "vice" or "vis"?
"vice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,622 in our German list, against #23,775 for "vis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,616,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vice" and "vis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vis vs voip". 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 #1,616,650 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list