vif

[vif]

/[vif]/ adj

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

The verdict

“vif” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,089) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,089
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est en vie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-vif · vif · French

vif · rank #5,089 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,089
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH vengeance

Nearest frequency peer: vengeance (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « vif »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « vif » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

vif vs vu
33% similar
vif vs vs
33% similar
vif vs vo
33% similar

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

Key facts for vif
PropertyValue
Headwordvif
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[vif]
Letters3
Frequency rank#5,089
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « vif »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.vifse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « vengeance » (#5,088), « vus » (#5,090), « vendus » (#5,087). Parmi 2,061 lemmes en « V », « vif » est au #5,089. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for vif is neighbouring look-alikes ("vu", "vs", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [vif]. Frequency #5,089 among 2,061 “V” headwords. 12 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Zero misspellings are on record for vif in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vu", "vs", "vo", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is vif, spelled V-I-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est en vie.
  2. 2
    Qualifie le tissu organique qui a gardé les propriétés vitales.
  3. 3
    Qui a beaucoup de vigueur et d’activité, rapide.
  4. 4
    Se dit d’une personne qui s’impatiente, qui s’emporte facilement.
  5. 5
    Qui conçoit, qui produit promptement et facilement.
  6. 6
    Qualifie certaines choses, soit physiques, soit morales, pour marquer la force, la violence de l’impression qu’elles font sur nous.
  7. 7
    Qualifie un regard brillant et plein de feu.
  8. 8
    Se dit d’une couleur éclatante, brillante, pure, sans autre nuance.
  9. 9
    Qualifie un tir rapide, nourri et continu.
  10. 10
    Qualifie ce qui est exprimé avec force, avec chaleur, de ce qui est énergique, animé.
  11. 11
    Qualifie les expressions où se fait sentir le feu de l’imagination, les traits piquants.
  12. 12
    Qualifie des propos qui approchent de l’insulte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On recherche ce voleur, mort ou vif.
  2. Cette carpe était encore toute vive quand on l’a mise dans la poêle.

Synonyms

sémillantspitantpétulant

This word in other languages

alive(English)vivo(Español)lebendig(Deutsch)vivo(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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vif"?
"vif" is spelled V-I-F. The IPA pronunciation is [vif].
What does "vif" mean?
As an adjective, "vif" means: Qui est en vie.
What words are commonly confused with "vif"?
"vif" is commonly confused with "vu", "vs", "vo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vif"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vif" is [vif]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vif" come from?
"vif" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "vif", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

vus#5,090PSG#5,068off#5,054PIB#5,166

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list