Which to use
“veille” and “veilleur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,203
- “veille” frequency rank
- #41,058
- “veilleur” frequency rank
- 43261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | veille | veilleur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État du corps de l’homme ou de l’animal, dans lequel les sens sont en action. | Celui qui veille. |
Where the eye mixes veille and veilleur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. veille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against veilleur's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses veille with veilleur
A purely visual mix-up. veille (\vɛj\) and veilleur (\vɛ.jœʁ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “veille” sits inside “veilleur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
veille is recorded at frequency rank #2,203, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛj\. veilleur is at rank #41,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɛ.jœʁ\.
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 43261, this pair ranks #219,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of veille vs veilleur
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "veille": -. Private to "veilleur": ru.
"veille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "veilleur" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "veille" and "veilleur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "veille" or "veilleur" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "veille" and "veilleur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "veille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "veilleur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "veille" and "veilleur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "veillées vs veilleur". 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 #219,461 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.