vibrationsvsviolationsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,086
“vibrations” frequency rank
#17,589
“violations” frequency rank
30675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vibrations violations
Definition Pluriel de vibration. Pluriel de violation.

Where the eye mixes vibrations and violations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
vibrations
10 ch
violations

Why the eye confuses vibrations with violations

A purely visual mix-up. vibrations (\vi.bʁa.sjɔ̃\) and violations (\vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\) 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 30675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vibrations is recorded at frequency rank #13,086, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.bʁa.sjɔ̃\. violations is at rank #17,589, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\.

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 30675, this pair ranks #308,704 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vibrations vs violations

Shared letters: ainostv. Private to "vibrations": br. Private to "violations": l.

"vibrations" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC  ·  "violations" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vibrationsivbrations · vbirations · vibartions · vibbrations · vibraitons · vibratinos · vibrationns · vibrationss
  • violationsivolations · viloations · vioaltions · violaitons · violatinos · violationns · violationss · violatiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vibrations" and "violations" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vi.bʁa.sjɔ̃\ versus \vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vibrations" or "violations"?
"vibrations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,086 in our French list, against #17,589 for "violations". 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 "vibrations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "violations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,704 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vibrations" and "violations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "violations vs vocations". 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 #308,704 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