Which to use
“van” and “vigan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,759
- “van” frequency rank
- #50,000
- “vigan” frequency rank
- 51759
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | van | vigan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument d’osier, en forme de coquille, qui a deux anses, et dont on se sert pour secouer le grain, les impuretés, afin de séparer la paille d’avec le bon grain. | Gros drap de laine foulée, de faible qualité, ni tondu, ni peigné, il contenait 960 fils de chaîne pour une largeur de 3/4 d'aune. |
Where the eye mixes van and vigan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: van vs vigan
A purely visual mix-up. van (\vɑ̃\) and vigan (\vi.ɡɑ̃\) 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 51759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
van is recorded at frequency rank #1,759, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɑ̃\. vigan is at rank #50,000, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.ɡɑ̃\.
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 51759, this pair ranks #152,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of van vs vigan
Shared letters: anv. Private to "van": -. Private to "vigan": gi.
"van" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "vigan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vigan ← ivgan · vgian · viagn · vigann · viggan · vigna · vvigan
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "van" and "vigan" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "van" or "vigan" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "van" and "vigan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "van" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vigan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #152,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "van" and "vigan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigan vs vlan". 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 #152,673 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.