vi vs vom, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“vi” is a name and “vom” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,812
“vi” frequency rank: #47,100
“vom” frequency rank: 50912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	vi	vom
Definition	Éditeur de texte minimaliste créé en 1976 par Bill Joy, n’utilisant que le clavier, et modal : l’effet de la pression sur une touche du clavier dépend du mode dans lequel on se trouve (mode insertion ou mode commande).	Contraction de von dem: du..

Where the eye mixes vi and vom

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

2 ch

3 ch

vom

Look-alike desk: vi vs vom

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vi is \vi.aj\ while vom is \fɔm\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vi is recorded at frequency rank #3,812, classified as aname, pronounced \vi.aj\. vom is at rank #47,100, tagged as aprep, pronounced \fɔm\.

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 50912, this pair ranks #158,980 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vi vs vom

Shared letters: v. Private to "vi": i. Private to "vom": mo.

"vi" · 2 letters · shape CV · "vom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vi" and "vom" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vi" is a name and "vom" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "vi" vs "vom" - which ranks higher?

"vi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,812 in our French list, against #47,100 for "vom". 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 "vi" and "vom" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "vi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "vom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #158,980 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"vi" and "vom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs vom". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #158,980 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.