vile

\vil\

/\vil\/ adj

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

The verdict

“vile” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #37,122) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#37,122
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Féminin singulier de vil.

Corpus desk

Index FR-vile · vile · French

vile · rank #37,122 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,122
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH vengé

Nearest frequency peer: vengé (-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 « vile »

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

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « vile » 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).

vile vs VL
0% similar
vile vs vue
50% similar
vile vs vol
50% similar

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

Key facts for vile
PropertyValue
Headwordvile
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\vil\
Letters4
Frequency rank#37,122
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « vile »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).vilese 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 « vengé » (#37,121), « visière » (#37,123), « VC » (#37,120). Parmi 2,061 lemmes en « V », « vile » est au #37,122. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for vile is neighbouring look-alikes ("VL", "vue", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \vil\. Frequency #37,122 among 2,061 “V” headwords. Gloss: "Féminin singulier de vil.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for vile, with forms such as "ivle", "vlie", and "vvile". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "VL", "vue", "vol", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is vile, spelled V-I-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Féminin singulier de vil.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. En effet, le caractère vil du réel, qui motive et nécessite cette exclusion (v. 12), ne signifie pas qu’on doive mépriser, ignorer et liquider la réalité, sans plus ; il signifie sa nature de plomb que la transmutation alchimique peut changer en or pur ou, plus exactement, ici, le caractère substantiel de ce qui peut être aboli en ronds de fumée, par un j…
  2. Le silence, ça n’était rien d’autre que du mépris. Et même la pire des méchancetés, la plus vile saloperie, aurait été préférable à ce mépris-là.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ivle
  • vlie
  • vvile

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vile - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ivle2vlie2vvile1
Edit distance from "vile"

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 "vile"?
"vile" is spelled V-I-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \vil\.
What does "vile" mean?
As an adjective, "vile" means: Féminin singulier de vil.
What words are commonly confused with "vile"?
"vile" is commonly confused with "VL", "vue", "vol". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vile"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vile" is \vil\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vile" come from?
"vile" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "vile", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wali#37,126wife#37,128taro#37,091AQMI#37,174

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list