Which to use
“vide” is a verb and “vise” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,399
- “vide” frequency rank
- #37,761
- “vise” frequency rank
- 69160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vide | vise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | divide (separate into parts, cleave asunder) | An instrument consisting of two jaws, closing by a screw, lever, cam, or the like, for holding work, as in filing. |
Where the eye mixes vide and vise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vide and vise follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses vide with vise
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vide is /vaɪd/ while vise is /vaɪs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “vide” becomes s in “vise”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vide is recorded at frequency rank #31,399, classified as averb, pronounced /vaɪd/. vise is at rank #37,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vaɪs/.
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 69160, this pair ranks #55,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of vide vs vise
Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vide": d. Private to "vise": s.
"vide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "vise" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vide" and "vise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "vide" or "vise"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vide" and "vise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vise vs VIX". 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 #55,732 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.