vœuxvsvuWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“vœux” and “vu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,179
“vœux” frequency rank
#156
“vu” frequency rank
8335
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vœux vu
Definition Pluriel de vœu. Ce qui est exposé sur les productions respectives, les pièces, les raisons qui sont énoncées avant le dispositif.

Where the eye mixes vœux and vu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vœux
2 ch
vu

Look-alike desk: vœux vs vu

A purely visual mix-up. vœux (\vø\) and vu (\vy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8335, 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\. vu is at rank #156, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vy\.

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 8335, this pair ranks #420,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vœux vs vu

Shared letters: uv. Private to "vœux": . Private to "vu": -.

"vœux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vœux" and "vu" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vø\ versus \vy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vœux" or "vu"?
"vu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #156 in our French list, against #8,179 for "vœux". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vœux" and "vu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vœux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #420,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vœux" and "vu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vœux vs voui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #420,363 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list