vexervsviserWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,431
“vexer” frequency rank
#8,945
“viser” frequency rank
33376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vexer viser
Definition Tourmenter par abus de pouvoir ; opprimer ; persécuter. Mirer, diriger attentivement son regard ou une arme vers un but pour y lancer quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes vexer and viser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vexer and viser follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
vexer
5 ch
viser

Visual trap between vexer and viser

A purely visual mix-up. vexer (\vɛk.se\) and viser (\vi.ze\) 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 33376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vexer is recorded at frequency rank #24,431, classified as averb, pronounced \vɛk.se\. viser is at rank #8,945, tagged as averb, pronounced \vi.ze\.

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 33376, this pair ranks #291,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vexer vs viser

Shared letters: erv. Private to "vexer": x. Private to "viser": is.

"vexer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "viser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vexerevxer · veexr · vexerr · vexre · vexxer · vvexer · vxeer
  • viserivser · viesr · viserr · visre · vsier · vviser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vexer" for "viser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vɛk.se\ versus \vi.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vexer" vs "viser" - which ranks higher?
"viser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,945 in our French list, against #24,431 for "vexer". 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 "vexer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "viser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vexer" and "viser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vevey vs vexer". 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 #291,041 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