vicesvsvivresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,506
“vices” frequency rank
#13,294
“vivres” frequency rank
29800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vices vivres
Definition Pluriel de vice. Denrées destinées à l’approvisionnement alimentaire.

Where the eye mixes vices and vivres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
vices
6 ch
vivres

Visual trap between vices and vivres

A purely visual mix-up. vices (\visəz\) and vivres (\vivʁ\) 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 29800, 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\. vivres is at rank #13,294, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vivʁ\.

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 29800, this pair ranks #314,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vices vs vivres

Shared letters: eisv. Private to "vices": c. Private to "vivres": r.

"vices" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "vivres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vicesivces · vcies · vicces · vicess · vicse · viecs · vvices
  • vivresivvres · virves · vivers · vivress · vivrres · vivrse · vivvres · vvires

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vices" for "vivres" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\visəz\ versus \vivʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vices" vs "vivres" - which ranks higher?
"vivres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,294 in our French list, against #16,506 for "vices". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "vices" and "vivres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vivres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #314,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vices" and "vivres" 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 #314,404 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