vicevsVivesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: vice is a noun, Vives is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vice” is a noun and “Vives” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,803
“vice” frequency rank
#4,758
“Vives” frequency rank
12561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vice Vives
Definition Vicepresidente. Apellido

Where the eye mixes vice and Vives

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vice
5 ch
Vives

Look-alike desk: vice vs Vives

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vice is [ˈbise] while Vives is [ˈbiβ̞es]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vice is recorded at frequency rank #7,803, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbise]. Vives is at rank #4,758, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈbiβ̞es].

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 12561, this pair ranks #291,100 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vice vs Vives

Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vice": c. Private to "Vives": s.

"vice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Vives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vicebice · ivce · vcie · vicce · viec · vise · vvice
  • Vivesbibes · ivves · vievs · vivess · vivse · vivves · vvies · vvives

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vice" and "Vives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vice" is a noun and "Vives" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "vice" or "Vives" show up more?
"Vives" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,758 in our Spanish list, against #7,803 for "vice". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,100 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vice" and "Vives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vice vs Vira". 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 #291,100 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list