vilovsviveTell them apart

Quick tell: vilo is a noun, vive is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vilo” is a noun and “vive” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,132
“vilo” frequency rank
#861
“vive” frequency rank
41993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vilo vive
Definition Véase en vilo Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de vivir.

Where the eye mixes vilo and vive

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vilo
4 ch
vive

Look-alike desk: vilo vs vive

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vilo is [ˈbilo] while vive is [ˈbiβ̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vilo is recorded at frequency rank #41,132, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbilo]. vive is at rank #861, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbiβ̞e].

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 41993, this pair ranks #150,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vilo vs vive

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vilo": lo. Private to "vive": e.

"vilo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vive" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vilobilo · ivlo · villo · viol · vlio · vvilo
  • vivebibe · ivve · viev · vivve · vvie · vvive

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vilo" for "vive" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vilo" is a noun and "vive" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vilo" vs "vive" - which ranks higher?
"vive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #861 in our Spanish list, against #41,132 for "vilo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vilo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #150,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vilo" and "vive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vilo vs visos". 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 #150,655 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