vervsviTell them apart

Quick tell: ver is a noun, vi is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ver” is a noun and “vi” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,804
“ver” frequency rank
#3,812
“vi” frequency rank
14616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ver vi
Definition Animal invertébré long et rampant au corps cylindrique, sans membres articulés et qui correspond à plusieurs animaux comme les vers de terre, certaines larves d’insectes, etc. Éditeur de texte minimaliste créé en 1976 par Bill Joy, n’utilisant que le clavier, et modal : l’effet de la pression sur une touche du clavier dépend du mode dans lequel on se trouve (mode insertion ou mode commande).

Where the eye mixes ver and vi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ver
2 ch
vi

Visual trap between ver and vi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ver is \vɛʁ\ while vi is \vi.aj\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ver is recorded at frequency rank #10,804, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛʁ\. vi is at rank #3,812, tagged as aname, pronounced \vi.aj\.

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 14616, this pair ranks #395,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ver vs vi

Shared letters: v. Private to "ver": er. Private to "vi": i.

"ver" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vi" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ver" for "vi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ver" is a noun and "vi" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ver" or "vi" show up more?
"vi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,812 in our French list, against #10,804 for "ver". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #395,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ver" and "vi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ver vs viv". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #395,907 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