versvsvinsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#185
“vers” frequency rank
#3,370
“vins” frequency rank
3555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vers vins
Definition Suite de mots rythmés selon la quantité, l’accentuation, le nombre des syllabes ou le retour de la rime. Pluriel de vin.

Where the eye mixes vers and vins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vers
4 ch
vins

Look-alike desk: vers vs vins

A purely visual mix-up. vers (\vɛʁ\) and vins (\vɛ̃\) 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 3555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vers is recorded at frequency rank #185, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛʁ\. vins is at rank #3,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɛ̃\.

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 3555, this pair ranks #433,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vers vs vins

Shared letters: sv. Private to "vers": er. Private to "vins": in.

"vers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "vins" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • versevrs · verrs · verss · vesr · vres · vvers
  • vinsivns · vinns · vinss · visn · vnis · vvins

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vers" and "vins" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vɛʁ\ versus \vɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "vers" or "vins" show up more?
"vers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #185 in our French list, against #3,370 for "vins". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #433,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vers" and "vins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vins vs viv". 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 #433,753 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