vêpresvsvivresConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#41,073
“vêpres” frequency rank
#13,294
“vivres” frequency rank
54367
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vêpres vivres
Definition Septième heure canoniale chrétienne, elle suit la none et précède les complies. Denrées destinées à l’approvisionnement alimentaire.

Where the eye mixes vêpres and vivres

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

6 ch
vêpres
6 ch
vivres

Look-alike desk: vêpres vs vivres

A purely visual mix-up. vêpres (\vɛpʁ\) and vivres (\vivʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vêpres is recorded at frequency rank #41,073, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛpʁ\. vivres is at rank #13,294, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vivʁ\.

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 54367, this pair ranks #134,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vêpres vs vivres

Shared letters: ersv. Private to "vêpres": pê. Private to "vivres": i.

"vêpres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "vivres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vivres ← ivvres · virves · vivers · vivress · vivrres · vivrse · vivvres · vvires

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vêpres" for "vivres" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vɛpʁ\ versus \vivʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vêpres" vs "vivres" - which ranks higher?
"vivres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,294 in our French list, against #41,073 for "vêpres". 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 "vêpres" and "vivres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vêpres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vivres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vêpres" and "vivres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vêpres vs vires". 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 #134,536 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