vénèrevsvipèreWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: vénère is a adjective, vipère is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vénère” is an adjective and “vipère” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,078
“vénère” frequency rank
#30,021
“vipère” frequency rank
54099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vénère vipère
Definition Énervé ; en colère. Une des espèces de serpents de taille modérée, à tête triangulaire aux nombreuses petites écailles, à pupilles elliptiques et à queue courte.

Where the eye mixes vénère and vipère

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vénère and vipère follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
vénère
6 ch
vipère

Visual trap between vénère and vipère

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vénère is \ve.nɛʁ\ while vipère is \vi.pɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vénère is recorded at frequency rank #24,078, classified as anadj, pronounced \ve.nɛʁ\. vipère is at rank #30,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.pɛʁ\.

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 54099, this pair ranks #136,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vénère vs vipère

Shared letters: ervè. Private to "vénère": né. Private to "vipère": ip.

"vénère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "vipère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vénère" and "vipère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vénère" is an adjective and "vipère" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vénère" or "vipère"?
"vénère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,078 in our French list, against #30,021 for "vipère". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vénère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vipère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vénère" and "vipère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Viper vs vipère". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #136,308 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