vieillesvsvisiblesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,391
“vieilles” frequency rank
#6,149
“visibles” frequency rank
10540
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vieilles visibles
Definition Féminin pluriel de vieux. Pluriel de visible.

Where the eye mixes vieilles and visibles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vieilles (CVVVCCVC) and visibles (CVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
vieilles
8 ch
visibles

Why the eye confuses vieilles with visibles

A purely visual mix-up. vieilles (\vjɛj\) and visibles (\vi.zibl\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vieilles is recorded at frequency rank #4,391, classified as anadj, pronounced \vjɛj\. visibles is at rank #6,149, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.zibl\.

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 10540, this pair ranks #412,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vieilles vs visibles

Shared letters: eilsv. Private to "vieilles": -. Private to "visibles": b.

"vieilles" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC  ·  "visibles" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vieillesiveilles · veiilles · vieilels · vieiles · vieilless · vieillse · vieliles · viielles
  • visiblesivsibles · viisbles · visbiles · visibbles · visibels · visibless · visiblles · visiblse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vieilles" for "visibles" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vjɛj\ versus \vi.zibl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vieilles" vs "visibles" - which ranks higher?
"vieilles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,391 in our French list, against #6,149 for "visibles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vieilles" and "visibles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vieilles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "visibles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #412,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vieilles" and "visibles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "veillées vs vieilles". 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 #412,598 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