Which to use
“vide” and “vils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,546
- “vide” frequency rank
- #44,805
- “vils” frequency rank
- 46351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vide | vils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui ne contient rien ; qui est totalement dépourvu de. | Masculin pluriel de vil. |
Where the eye mixes vide and vils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses vide with vils
A purely visual mix-up. vide (\vid\) and vils (\vil\) 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 46351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vide is recorded at frequency rank #1,546, classified as anadj, pronounced \vid\. vils is at rank #44,805, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vil\.
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 46351, this pair ranks #195,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vide vs vils
Shared letters: iv. Private to "vide": de. Private to "vils": ls.
"vide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "vils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vide" and "vils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "vide" or "vils"?
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 "vide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vide" and "vils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vils vs viv". 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 #195,681 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.