vendeurvsvengeurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,723
“vendeur” frequency rank
#31,775
“vengeur” frequency rank
36498
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vendeur vengeur
Definition Qui fait vendre. Qui venge, qui punit, vindicatif.

Where the eye mixes vendeur and vengeur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vendeur and vengeur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
vendeur
7 ch
vengeur

Why the eye confuses vendeur with vengeur

A purely visual mix-up. vendeur (\vɑ̃.dœʁ\) and vengeur (\vɑ̃.ʒœʁ\) 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 a single letter - d in “vendeur” becomes g in “vengeur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vendeur is recorded at frequency rank #4,723, classified as anadj, pronounced \vɑ̃.dœʁ\. vengeur is at rank #31,775, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vɑ̃.ʒœʁ\.

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 36498, this pair ranks #269,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vendeur vs vengeur

Shared letters: enruv. Private to "vendeur": d. Private to "vengeur": g.

"vendeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "vengeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vendeurevndeur · vedneur · venddeur · venderu · vendeurr · venduer · venedur · venndeur
  • vengeurevngeur · vegneur · venegur · vengeru · vengeurr · venggeur · venguer · venngeur

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vendeur" and "vengeur" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vɑ̃.dœʁ\ versus \vɑ̃.ʒœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vendeur" or "vengeur"?
"vendeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,723 in our French list, against #31,775 for "vengeur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vendeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vengeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vendeur" and "vengeur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vengeur vs vengeurs". 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 #269,164 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