Which to use
“vacances” and “vacanciers” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,050
- “vacances” frequency rank
- #25,522
- “vacanciers” frequency rank
- 26572
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vacances | vacanciers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Période de repos, durant un certain nombre de jours, accordée à des employés dans une entreprise, à des élèves dans une école, etc. | Pluriel de vacancier. |
Where the eye mixes vacances and vacanciers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. vacances runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against vacanciers's 10 (CVCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vacances with vacanciers
A purely visual mix-up. vacances (\va.kɑ̃s\) and vacanciers (\va.kɑ̃.sje\) 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 26572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vacances is recorded at frequency rank #1,050, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.kɑ̃s\. vacanciers is at rank #25,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced \va.kɑ̃.sje\.
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 26572, this pair ranks #334,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vacances vs vacanciers
Shared letters: acensv. Private to "vacances": -. Private to "vacanciers": ir.
"vacances" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "vacanciers" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vacances ← avcances · vaacnces · vacacnes · vacancces · vacancess · vacancse · vacanecs · vacannces
- vacanciers ← avcanciers · vaacnciers · vacacniers · vacancciers · vacanceirs · vacancierrs · vacancierss · vacanciesr
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vacances" and "vacanciers" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "vacances" or "vacanciers"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vacances" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vacanciers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #334,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vacances" and "vacanciers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacances vs vacante". 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 #334,167 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.