Which to use
“vicaire” and “vilaine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,936
- “vicaire” frequency rank
- #9,938
- “vilaine” frequency rank
- 23874
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vicaire | vilaine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obtenu par personne interposée, par opposition à direct. | Féminin singulier de vilain. |
Where the eye mixes vicaire and vilaine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vicaire and vilaine follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: vicaire vs vilaine
A purely visual mix-up. vicaire (\vi.kɛʁ\) and vilaine (\vi.lɛn\) 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 23874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vicaire is recorded at frequency rank #13,936, classified as anadj, pronounced \vi.kɛʁ\. vilaine is at rank #9,938, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.lɛn\.
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 23874, this pair ranks #349,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vicaire vs vilaine
Shared letters: aeiv. Private to "vicaire": cr. Private to "vilaine": ln.
"vicaire" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "vilaine" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vicaire" for "vilaine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vicaire" vs "vilaine" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "vicaire" and "vilaine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vicaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vilaine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vicaire" and "vilaine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vilaine vs vilaines". 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 #349,946 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.