Which to use
“vieil” and “vieilli” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,254
- “vieil” frequency rank
- #15,536
- “vieilli” frequency rank
- 21790
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vieil | vieilli |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin singulier de vieux devant une voyelle ou un h muet. | Qui a pris un coup de vieux. |
Where the eye mixes vieil and vieilli
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vieil runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against vieilli's 7 (CVVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: vieil vs vieilli
A purely visual mix-up. vieil (\vjɛj\) and vieilli (\vje.ji\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “vieil” sits inside “vieilli”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vieil is recorded at frequency rank #6,254, classified as anadj, pronounced \vjɛj\. vieilli is at rank #15,536, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vje.ji\.
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 21790, this pair ranks #361,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vieil vs vieilli
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vieil": -. Private to "vieilli": -.
"vieil" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "vieilli" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vieil" and "vieilli" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "vieil" or "vieilli" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "vieil" and "vieilli" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vieil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vieilli" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vieil" and "vieilli" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vieilli vs vieillot". 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 #361,406 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.