veillervsveuillezConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,908
“veiller” frequency rank
#4,390
“veuillez” frequency rank
11298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature veiller veuillez
Definition S’abstenir de dormir pendant le temps destiné au sommeil. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif de vouloir.

Where the eye mixes veiller and veuillez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. veiller runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against veuillez's 8 (CVVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
veiller
8 ch
veuillez

Why the eye confuses veiller with veuillez

A purely visual mix-up. veiller (\vɛ.je\) and veuillez (\vœ.je\) 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 11298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

veiller is recorded at frequency rank #6,908, classified as averb, pronounced \vɛ.je\. veuillez is at rank #4,390, tagged as averb, pronounced \vœ.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 11298, this pair ranks #409,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of veiller vs veuillez

Shared letters: eilv. Private to "veiller": r. Private to "veuillez": uz.

"veiller" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "veuillez" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • veillereviller · veilelr · veiler · veillerr · veillre · veliler · vieller · vveiller
  • veuillezevuillez · veiullez · veuilelz · veuilez · veuillezz · veuillze · veulilez · vueillez

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "veiller" and "veuillez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\vɛ.je\ versus \vœ.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "veiller" or "veuillez"?
"veuillez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,390 in our French list, against #6,908 for "veiller". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "veiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "veuillez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #409,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "veiller" and "veuillez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vaciller vs veiller". 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 #409,673 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