vital

\vi.tal\

/\vi.tal\/ adj

The verdict

“vital” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,636. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,636
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui appartient à la vie, qui est essentiel à la vie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-vital · vital · French

vital · rank #8,636 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,636
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH vignes

Nearest frequency peer: vignes (-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 “vital”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “vital” 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 September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

vital vs vite
60% similar
vital vs viva
60% similar
vital vs vito
60% similar

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

Key facts for vital
PropertyValue
Headwordvital
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\vi.tal\
Letters5
Frequency rank#8,636
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “vital” se place dans la fréquence du français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.vitalse 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 « vignes » (#8,635), « vogue » (#8,637), « vertus » (#8,634). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around vital (IPA \vi.tal\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #8,636 among 2,061 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for vital, with forms such as "ivtal", "viatl", and "vitall". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vite", "viva", "vito", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is vital, spelled V-I-T-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui appartient à la vie, qui est essentiel à la vie.
  2. 2
    Qui est essentiel, d’une nécessité absolue.
  3. 3
    Qui est en bonne santé, en pleine forme.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Force vitale.
  2. Le cœur, le poumon, le cerveau sont des organes vitaux.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ivtal
  • viatl
  • vitall
  • vitla
  • vittal
  • vtial
  • vvital

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vital - 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.

ivtal2viatl2vitall1vitla2vittal1vtial2vvital1
Edit distance from "vital"

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 "vital"?
"vital" is spelled V-I-T-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \vi.tal\.
What does "vital" mean?
As an adjective, "vital" means: Qui appartient à la vie, qui est essentiel à la vie.
What words are commonly confused with "vital"?
"vital" is commonly confused with "vite", "viva", "vito". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vital"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vital" is \vi.tal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vital" come from?
"vital" 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 "vital", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

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

What to do next

You've looked up "vital". Here's where to go from here.

  • "vital" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "vite". View pair
  • 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #8,636 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "V" letter cohort. V–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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