vertu

\vɛʁ.ty\

/\vɛʁ.ty\/ noun

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

The verdict

“vertu” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,884. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,884
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Disposition ferme, constante de l’âme, qui porte à faire le bien et à fuir le mal.

Corpus desk

Index FR-vertu · vertu · French

vertu · rank #3,884 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,884
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH universitaire

Nearest frequency peer: universitaire (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « vertu »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « vertu » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

vertu vs veut
60% similar
vertu vs vêtu
60% similar
vertu vs very
60% similar

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

Key facts for vertu
PropertyValue
Headwordvertu
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\vɛʁ.ty\
Letters5
Frequency rank#3,884
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « vertu »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).vertuse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « universitaire » (#3,883), « wow » (#3,885), « témoignages » (#3,882). Parmi 2,061 lemmes en « V », « vertu » est au #3,884. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around vertu (IPA \vɛʁ.ty\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,884 among 2,061 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for vertu, with forms such as "evrtu", "verrtu", and "verttu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "veut", "vêtu", "very", 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 any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is vertu, spelled V-E-R-T-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Disposition ferme, constante de l’âme, qui porte à faire le bien et à fuir le mal.
  2. 2
    Personne vertueuse.
  3. 3
    Dispositions particulières propres à telle ou telle sorte de devoirs ou de bonnes actions.
  4. 4
    Chasteté, pudicité, surtout en parlant des femmes.
  5. 5
    Pouvoir de produire un certain effet.
  6. 6
    Un des chœurs de la hiérarchie des anges.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how vertu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ô vertu ! science sublime des âmes simples, faut-il donc tant de peines et d'appareil pour te connaître ? Tes principes ne sont-ils pas gravés dans tous les cœurs ?
  2. La vertu est un effort fait sur nous-mêmes pour le bien d'autrui, dans l'intention de plaire à Dieu seul.

Synonyms

qualitéméritemoraleeffetefficacitéfacultépouvoirpropriétévaleurcourage

Antonyms

défautvice

This word in other languages

righteousness(English)virtud(Español)Tugend(Deutsch)virtude(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • evrtu
  • verrtu
  • verttu
  • verut
  • vetru
  • vretu
  • vvertu

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vertu - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

evrtu2verrtu1verttu1verut2vetru2vretu2vvertu1
Edit distance from "vertu"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vertu"?
"vertu" is spelled V-E-R-T-U. The IPA pronunciation is \vɛʁ.ty\.
What does "vertu" mean?
As a noun, "vertu" means: Disposition ferme, constante de l’âme, qui porte à faire le bien et à fuir le mal.
What words are commonly confused with "vertu"?
"vertu" is commonly confused with "veut", "vêtu", "very". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vertu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vertu" is \vɛʁ.ty\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vertu" come from?
"vertu" 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 "vertu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

écris#3,886subir#3,878Steve#3,877stars#3,876

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

baisser7 variantsrayon7 variantscoach7 variantsgamin7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list