vicesvsviréesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,506
“vices” frequency rank
#48,258
“virées” frequency rank
64764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vices virées
Definition Pluriel de vice. Pluriel de virée.

Where the eye mixes vices and virées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vices runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against virées's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
vices
6 ch
virées

Why the eye confuses vices with virées

A purely visual mix-up. vices (\visəz\) and virées (\vi.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64764, 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\. virées is at rank #48,258, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.ʁe\.

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 64764, this pair ranks #75,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vices vs virées

Shared letters: eisv. Private to "vices": c. Private to "virées": ré.

"vices" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "virées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vices ← ivces · vcies · vicces · vicess · vicse · viecs · vvices

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vices" and "virées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\visəz\ versus \vi.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vices" vs "virées" - which ranks higher?
"vices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,506 in our French list, against #48,258 for "virées". 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 "vices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "virées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vices" and "virées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "virées vs vouées". 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 #75,449 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