vidéovsviveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#443
“vidéo” frequency rank
#2,206
“vive” frequency rank
2649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vidéo vive
Definition Ensemble des techniques permettant la visualisation ou l’enregistrement d’images animées accompagnées de son, sur un support électronique. Type de poisson osseux marin de l’Atlantique, de la Méditerranée et de la mer Noire, qui possède une épine dorsale venimeuse, et a la bouche inclinée vers le haut et les yeux situés au-dessus de la tête, de la famille des trachinidés, par exemple la grande vive.

Where the eye mixes vidéo and vive

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

5 ch
vidéo
4 ch
vive

Why the eye confuses vidéo with vive

A purely visual mix-up. vidéo (\vi.de.o\) and vive (\viv\) 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 2649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vidéo is recorded at frequency rank #443, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.de.o\. vive is at rank #2,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced \viv\.

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 2649, this pair ranks #435,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vidéo vs vive

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vidéo": doé. Private to "vive": e.

"vidéo" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vive" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viveivve · viev · vivve · vvie · vvive

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vidéo" for "vive" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vi.de.o\ versus \viv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vidéo" vs "vive" - which ranks higher?
"vidéo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #443 in our French list, against #2,206 for "vive". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "vidéo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vidéo" and "vive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs vive". 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 #435,728 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