vœu

\vø\

/\vø\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“vœu” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #11,688) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#11,688
frequency rank, French
148,117
“V” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Promesse faite à Dieu, par laquelle on s’engage à quelque œuvre que l’on croit lui être agréable, et qui n’est pas de précepte.

Corpus desk

Index FR-v-u · vœu · French

vœu · rank #11,688 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,688
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 148,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH wagon

Nearest frequency peer: wagon (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “vœu”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “vœu” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

vœu vs va
33% similar
vœu vs vu
67% similar
vœu vs vi
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for vœu
PropertyValue
Headwordvœu
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\vø\
Letters3
Frequency rank#11,688
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “vœu” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). vœu lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for vœu is neighbouring look-alikes ("va", "vu", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \vø\. Frequency #11,688 among 148,117 “V” headwords. 7 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

vœu doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "va", "vu", "vi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is vœu, spelled V-Œ-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Promesse faite à Dieu, par laquelle on s’engage à quelque œuvre que l’on croit lui être agréable, et qui n’est pas de précepte.
  2. 2
    Promesse qu’on s’est faite à soi-même, résolution ferme qu’on a prise de faire ou de ne pas faire une chose.
  3. 3
    Offrande promise par un vœu → voir ex-voto.
  4. 4
    Souhait ; désir.
  5. 5
    Usage d’envoyer une carte, ou de présenter des souhaits de bonheur et de prospérité, au moment de noël ou du nouvel an. → voir vœux
  6. 6
    Cérémonie de la profession solennelle de l’état religieux. → voir vœux
  7. 7
    Demande d'affectation dans une formation, formulée par un étudiant au cours de son orientation.

This word in other languages

vow(English)voto(Español)Bitte(Deutsch)promessa(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vœu"?
"vœu" is spelled V-Œ-U. The IPA pronunciation is \vø\.
What does "vœu" mean?
As a noun, "vœu" means: Promesse faite à Dieu, par laquelle on s’engage à quelque œuvre que l’on croit lui être agréable, et qui n’est pas de précepte.
What words are commonly confused with "vœu"?
"vœu" is commonly confused with "va", "vu", "vi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vœu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vœu" is \vø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vœu" come from?
"vœu" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "vœu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

eur#11,765hui#11,783LNH#11,801CDD#11,538
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list