vendrevsvendsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,305
“vendre” frequency rank
#8,479
“vends” frequency rank
9784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vendre vends
Definition Aliéner une chose, transporter, céder à quelqu’un la propriété d’une chose pour un certain prix, contre une somme d'argent. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de vendre.

Where the eye mixes vendre and vends

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
vendre
5 ch
vends

Look-alike desk: vendre vs vends

A purely visual mix-up. vendre (\vɑ̃dʁ\) and vends (\vɑ̃\) 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 9784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vendre is recorded at frequency rank #1,305, classified as averb, pronounced \vɑ̃dʁ\. vends is at rank #8,479, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɑ̃\.

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 9784, this pair ranks #415,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vendre vs vends

Shared letters: denv. Private to "vendre": r. Private to "vends": s.

"vendre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "vends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vendreevndre · vednre · venddre · vender · vendrre · venndre · venrde · vnedre
  • vendsevnds · vedns · vendds · vendss · vennds · vensd · vneds · vvends

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vendre" and "vends" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vɑ̃dʁ\ versus \vɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vendre" vs "vends" - which ranks higher?
"vendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,305 in our French list, against #8,479 for "vends". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #415,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vendre" and "vends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vends vs veufs". 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 #415,423 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