Which to use
“veille” is a noun and “veillez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,203
- “veille” frequency rank
- #23,727
- “veillez” frequency rank
- 25930
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | veille | veillez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État du corps de l’homme ou de l’animal, dans lequel les sens sont en action. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de veiller. |
Where the eye mixes veille and veillez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. veille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against veillez's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between veille and veillez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: veille is \vɛj\ while veillez is \ve.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “veille” sits inside “veillez”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25930, 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\. veillez is at rank #23,727, tagged as averb, pronounced \ve.je\.
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 25930, this pair ranks #338,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of veille vs veillez
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "veille": -. Private to "veillez": z.
"veille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "veillez" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "veille" for "veillez" ever safe?
Frequency check: "veille" vs "veillez" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "veille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "veillez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "veille" and "veillez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "veillées vs veillez". 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 #338,046 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.