Which to use
“vidange” and “virage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,413
- “vidange” frequency rank
- #7,920
- “virage” frequency rank
- 31333
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vidange | virage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de vider. | Action de faire tourner un véhicule, un avion, etc. |
Where the eye mixes vidange and virage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vidange runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against virage's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: vidange vs virage
A purely visual mix-up. vidange (\vi.dɑ̃ʒ\) and virage (\vi.ʁaʒ\) 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 31333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vidange is recorded at frequency rank #23,413, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.dɑ̃ʒ\. virage is at rank #7,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.ʁaʒ\.
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 31333, this pair ranks #304,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vidange vs virage
Shared letters: aegiv. Private to "vidange": dn. Private to "virage": r.
"vidange" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "virage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vidange" for "virage" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "vidange" or "virage" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "vidange" and "virage" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vidange" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "virage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #304,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vidange" and "virage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vendange vs vidange". 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 #304,449 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.