Which to use
“virus” and “vis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,537
- “virus” frequency rank
- #16,614
- “vis” frequency rank
- 20151
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | virus | vis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms). | Force; energy; might; power. |
Where the eye mixes virus and vis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. virus runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against vis's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between virus and vis
A purely visual mix-up. virus (/ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/) and vis (/vɪs/) 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 20151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
virus is recorded at frequency rank #3,537, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/. vis is at rank #16,614, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɪs/.
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 20151, this pair ranks #433,162 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of virus vs vis
Shared letters: isv. Private to "virus": ru. Private to "vis": -.
"virus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- virus ← ivrus · virrus · virsu · viruss · viurs · vrius · vvirus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "virus" and "vis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "virus" or "vis" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "virus" and "vis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "virus" 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 #433,162 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "virus" and "vis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "VH vs vis". 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 #433,162 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.