Which to use
“vœux” is a noun and “veut” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,179
- “vœux” frequency rank
- #199
- “veut” frequency rank
- 8378
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vœux | veut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de vœu. | Troisième personne du singulier à l’indicatif présent de vouloir. |
Same sound, different letters: vœux vs veut
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Homophone desk: vœux vs veut
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: vœux and veut carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vø\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vœux is recorded at frequency rank #8,179, classified as anoun, pronounced \vø\. veut is at rank #199, tagged as averb, pronounced \vø\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 8378, this pair ranks #420,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vœux vs veut
Shared letters: uv. Private to "vœux": xœ. Private to "veut": et.
"vœux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "veut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- veut ← evut · vetu · veutt · vuet · vveut
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vœux" for "veut" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "vœux" or "veut" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "vœux" / "veut". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "vœux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "veut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vœux" and "veut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vœux vs voui". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #420,240 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.