vendvsvesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,720
“vend” frequency rank
#42,676
“ves” frequency rank
46396
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vend ves
Definition Nom de la lettre additionnelle de l’alphabet latin Ꝩ (minuscule : ꝩ) utilisée dans l’écriture du vieux norrois au Moyen Âge ^([1]). Veuves.

Where the eye mixes vend and ves

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vend
3 ch
ves

Why the eye confuses vend with ves

A purely visual mix-up. vend (\vɛnd\) and ves (\vœv\) 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 46396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vend is recorded at frequency rank #3,720, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛnd\. ves is at rank #42,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vœv\.

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 46396, this pair ranks #195,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vend vs ves

Shared letters: ev. Private to "vend": dn. Private to "ves": s.

"vend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "ves" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vendevnd · vedn · vendd · vennd · vned · vvend

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vend" and "ves" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vɛnd\ versus \vœv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "vend" or "ves" show up more?
"vend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,720 in our French list, against #42,676 for "ves". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vend" and "ves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ves vs viv". 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 #195,285 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