Which to use
“vieille” and “vielles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,843
- “vieille” frequency rank
- #32,636
- “vielles” frequency rank
- 34479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vieille | vielles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme âgée. | Pluriel de vielle. |
Where the eye mixes vieille and vielles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vieille (CVVVCCV) and vielles (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses vieille with vielles
A purely visual mix-up. vieille (\vjɛj\) and vielles (\vjɛl\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vieille is recorded at frequency rank #1,843, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɛj\. vielles is at rank #32,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɛl\.
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 34479, this pair ranks #283,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vieille vs vielles
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vieille": -. Private to "vielles": s.
"vieille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "vielles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vieille" and "vielles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "vieille" vs "vielles" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "vieille" and "vielles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vieille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vielles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vieille" and "vielles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vielles vs violés". 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 #283,543 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.