vidervsviveTell them apart

Quick tell: vider is a verb, vive is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vider” is a verb and “vive” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,174
“vider” frequency rank
#2,206
“vive” frequency rank
10380
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vider vive
Definition Retirer d’un récipient ou de quelque lieu ce qui y était contenu ; rendre vide. 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 vider and vive

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
vider
4 ch
vive

Look-alike desk: vider vs vive

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vider is \vi.de\ while vive is \viv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vider is recorded at frequency rank #8,174, classified as averb, pronounced \vi.de\. 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 10380, this pair ranks #413,204 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vider vs vive

Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vider": dr. Private to "vive": -.

"vider" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "vive" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viderivder · vdier · vidder · viderr · vidre · viedr · vvider
  • viveivve · viev · vivve · vvie · vvive

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vider" and "vive" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vider" is a verb and "vive" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "vider" or "vive" show up more?
"vive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,206 in our French list, against #8,174 for "vider". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vider" 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 #413,204 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vider" and "vive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vider vs vilar". 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 #413,204 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