visvsVliesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,775
“vis” frequency rank
#39,119
“Vlies” frequency rank
62894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vis Vlies
Definition Schraube Schafsfell

Where the eye mixes vis and Vlies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vis runs 3 letters (CVC) against Vlies's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
vis
5 ch
Vlies

Visual trap between vis and Vlies

A purely visual mix-up. vis ([vis]) and Vlies ([fliːs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vis is recorded at frequency rank #23,775, classified as anoun, pronounced [vis]. Vlies is at rank #39,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fliːs].

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 62894, this pair ranks #696,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vis vs Vlies

Shared letters: isv. Private to "vis": -. Private to "Vlies": el.

"vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Vlies" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vlies ← viles · vleis · vliess · vlise · vllies · vvlies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vis" for "Vlies" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vis] versus [fliːs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vis" or "Vlies"?
"vis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,775 in our German list, against #39,119 for "Vlies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vis" and "Vlies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vlies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #696,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vis" and "Vlies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vlies vs voices". 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 #696,295 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