vécuesvsvêtuesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,734
“vécues” frequency rank
#42,121
“vêtues” frequency rank
65855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vécues vêtues
Definition Féminin pluriel de vécu. Féminin pluriel de vêtu.

Where the eye mixes vécues and vêtues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vécues and vêtues follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
vécues
6 ch
vêtues

Look-alike desk: vécues vs vêtues

A purely visual mix-up. vécues (\ve.ky\) and vêtues (\vɛ.ty\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vécues is recorded at frequency rank #23,734, classified as anadj, pronounced \ve.ky\. vêtues is at rank #42,121, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vɛ.ty\.

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 65855, this pair ranks #70,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vécues vs vêtues

Shared letters: esuv. Private to "vécues": cé. Private to "vêtues": tê.

"vécues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "vêtues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vécues" and "vêtues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ve.ky\ versus \vɛ.ty\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vécues" or "vêtues"?
"vécues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,734 in our French list, against #42,121 for "vêtues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vécues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vêtues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vécues" and "vêtues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vêtues vs veufs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,467 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