Which to use
“viable” and “virile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,820
- “viable” frequency rank
- #34,357
- “virile” frequency rank
- 49177
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | viable | virile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est apte à vivre. | Féminin singulier de viril. |
Where the eye mixes viable and virile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: viable vs virile
A purely visual mix-up. viable (\vjabl\) and virile (\vi.ʁil\) 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 49177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
viable is recorded at frequency rank #14,820, classified as anadj, pronounced \vjabl\. virile is at rank #34,357, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.ʁil\.
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 49177, this pair ranks #172,813 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of viable vs virile
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "viable": ab. Private to "virile": r.
"viable" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "virile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "viable" and "virile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "viable" or "virile" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "viable" and "virile" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "viable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "virile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,813 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "viable" and "virile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigie vs virile". 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 #172,813 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.