veufsvsvifsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,941
“veufs” frequency rank
#16,771
“vifs” frequency rank
62712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature veufs vifs
Definition Masculin pluriel de veuf. Masculin pluriel de vif.

Where the eye mixes veufs and vifs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. veufs runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against vifs's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
veufs
4 ch
vifs

Visual trap between veufs and vifs

A purely visual mix-up. veufs (\vœf\) and vifs (\vif\) 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 62712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

veufs is recorded at frequency rank #45,941, classified as anadj, pronounced \vœf\. vifs is at rank #16,771, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vif\.

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 62712, this pair ranks #85,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of veufs vs vifs

Shared letters: fsv. Private to "veufs": eu. Private to "vifs": i.

"veufs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "vifs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • veufs ← evufs · vefus · veuffs · veufss · veusf · vuefs · vveufs
  • vifs ← ivfs · vfis · viffs · vifss · visf · vvifs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "veufs" and "vifs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vœf\ versus \vif\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "veufs" vs "vifs" - which ranks higher?
"vifs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,771 in our French list, against #45,941 for "veufs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "veufs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vifs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #85,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "veufs" and "vifs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ves vs veufs". 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 #85,716 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