Which to use
“vieille” and “vigile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,843
- “vieille” frequency rank
- #20,888
- “vigile” frequency rank
- 22731
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vieille | vigile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme âgée. | Personne (homme ou femme) chargée d’une fonction de surveillance, de sécurité, le plus souvent dans des locaux commerciaux, industriels (pour une femme, on dira aussi femme vigile). |
Where the eye mixes vieille and vigile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vieille runs 7 letters (CVVVCCV) against vigile's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between vieille and vigile
A purely visual mix-up. vieille (\vjɛj\) and vigile (\vi.ʒil\) 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 22731, 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\. vigile is at rank #20,888, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.ʒil\.
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 22731, this pair ranks #356,453 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vieille vs vigile
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vieille": -. Private to "vigile": g.
"vieille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "vigile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vieille" and "vigile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "vieille" or "vigile" show up more?
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 "vieille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vigile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,453 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vieille" and "vigile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigie vs vigile". 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 #356,453 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.