VailvsvilsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Vail is a name, vils is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Vail” is a name and “vils” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,512
“Vail” frequency rank
#44,805
“vils” frequency rank
91317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Vail vils
Definition Station de sports d’hiver américaine située dans le comté d’Eagle dans le Colorado, Masculin pluriel de vil.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Vail and vils apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Vail
4 ch
vils

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Vail is aname and vilsanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Vail is recorded at frequency rank #46,512, classified as aname. vils is at rank #44,805, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vil\.

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 91317, this pair ranks #3,968 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Vail vs vils

Shared letters: ilv. Private to "Vail": a. Private to "vils": s.

"Vail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vailavil · vaill · vali · vvail
  • vilsivls · vills · vilss · visl · vlis · vvils

Frequency comparison

Vail#46,512
vils#44,805

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Vail" and "vils" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Vail" is a name and "vils" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Vail" or "vils"?
"vils" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,805 in our French list, against #46,512 for "Vail". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Vail vs vils

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Vail”; for an adjective, it's “vils”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Vail” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list