vicesvsvidéoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,506
“vices” frequency rank
#443
“vidéo” frequency rank
16949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vices vidéo
Definition Pluriel de vice. Ensemble des techniques permettant la visualisation ou l’enregistrement d’images animées accompagnées de son, sur un support électronique.

Where the eye mixes vices and vidéo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
vices
5 ch
vidéo

Look-alike desk: vices vs vidéo

A purely visual mix-up. vices (\visəz\) and vidéo (\vi.de.o\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vices is recorded at frequency rank #16,506, classified as anoun, pronounced \visəz\. vidéo is at rank #443, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.de.o\.

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 16949, this pair ranks #385,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vices vs vidéo

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vices": ces. Private to "vidéo": doé.

"vices" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "vidéo" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vicesivces · vcies · vicces · vicess · vicse · viecs · vvices

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vices" for "vidéo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\visəz\ versus \vi.de.o\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vices" or "vidéo"?
"vidéo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #443 in our French list, against #16,506 for "vices". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vidéo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #385,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vices" and "vidéo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vices vs virées". 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 #385,503 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