vécusvsvêtuesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,439
“vécus” frequency rank
#42,121
“vêtues” frequency rank
66560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vécus vêtues
Definition Masculin pluriel de vécu. Féminin pluriel de vêtu.

Where the eye mixes vécus and vêtues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vécus runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against vêtues's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
vécus
6 ch
vêtues

Look-alike desk: vécus vs vêtues

A purely visual mix-up. vécus (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vécus is recorded at frequency rank #24,439, 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 66560, this pair ranks #67,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vécus vs vêtues

Shared letters: suv. Private to "vécus": cé. Private to "vêtues": etê.

"vécus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "vêtues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vécus" for "vêtues" ever safe?
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, "vécus" or "vêtues"?
"vécus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,439 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.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vécus" 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 #67,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vécus" and "vêtues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vêtues vs veufs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #67,275 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