varvsvilarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: var is a noun, vilar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“var” is a noun and “vilar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,629
“var” frequency rank
#48,858
“vilar” frequency rank
53487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature var vilar
Definition Unité de puissance réactive qui correspond à un courant alternatif de 1 ampère sous une chute de tension de 1 volt Troisième personne du singulier du présent du verbe vilá (« détruire »).

Where the eye mixes var and vilar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
var
5 ch
vilar

Why the eye confuses var with vilar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: var is \vaʁ\ while vilar is \viˈlar\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

var is recorded at frequency rank #4,629, classified as anoun, pronounced \vaʁ\. vilar is at rank #48,858, tagged as averb, pronounced \viˈlar\.

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 53487, this pair ranks #140,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of var vs vilar

Shared letters: arv. Private to "var": -. Private to "vilar": il.

"var" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vilar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vilarivlar · vialr · vilarr · villar · vilra · vliar · vvilar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "var" and "vilar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "var" is a noun and "vilar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "var" vs "vilar" - which ranks higher?
"var" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,629 in our French list, against #48,858 for "vilar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "var" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vilar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "var" and "vilar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigan vs vilar". 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 #140,389 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