vervsvoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,804
“ver” frequency rank
#10,609
“vo” frequency rank
21413
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ver vo
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. Verso.

Where the eye mixes ver and vo

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

3 ch
ver
2 ch
vo

Why the eye confuses ver with vo

A purely visual mix-up. ver (\vɛʁ\) and vo (\vɛʁ.so\) 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 21413, 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\. vo is at rank #10,609, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɛʁ.so\.

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 21413, this pair ranks #363,284 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ver vs vo

Shared letters: v. Private to "ver": er. Private to "vo": o.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ver" for "vo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vɛʁ\ versus \vɛʁ.so\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ver" or "vo"?
"vo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,609 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #363,284 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ver" and "vo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ver vs viv". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #363,284 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