vêtementsvsvirementsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,939
“vêtements” frequency rank
#30,022
“virements” frequency rank
31961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vêtements virements
Definition Pluriel de vêtement. Pluriel de virement.

Where the eye mixes vêtements and virements

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. vêtements and virements follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
vêtements
9 ch
virements

Look-alike desk: vêtements vs virements

A purely visual mix-up. vêtements (\vɛt.mɑ̃\) and virements (\viʁ.mɑ̃\) 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 31961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vêtements is recorded at frequency rank #1,939, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛt.mɑ̃\. virements is at rank #30,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced \viʁ.mɑ̃\.

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 31961, this pair ranks #300,466 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vêtements vs virements

Shared letters: emnstv. Private to "vêtements": ê. Private to "virements": ir.

"vêtements" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCC  ·  "virements" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • virements ← ivrements · vierments · vireemnts · viremennts · viremenst · virementss · virementts · viremetns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vêtements" for "virements" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vɛt.mɑ̃\ versus \viʁ.mɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vêtements" vs "virements" - which ranks higher?
"vêtements" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,939 in our French list, against #30,022 for "virements". 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 "vêtements" and "virements" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vêtements" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "virements" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,466 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vêtements" and "virements" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "virements vs virulents". 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 #300,466 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