Which to use
“vieillir” is a verb and “vieillis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,821
- “vieillir” frequency rank
- #34,802
- “vieillis” frequency rank
- 49623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vieillir | vieillis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Devenir vieux. | Masculin pluriel de vieilli. |
Where the eye mixes vieillir and vieillis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. vieillir and vieillis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses vieillir with vieillis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vieillir is \vje.jiʁ\ while vieillis is \vje.ji\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “vieillir” becomes s in “vieillis”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vieillir is recorded at frequency rank #14,821, classified as averb, pronounced \vje.jiʁ\. vieillis is at rank #34,802, 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 49623, this pair ranks #169,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vieillir vs vieillis
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vieillir": r. Private to "vieillis": s.
"vieillir" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC · "vieillis" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vieillir" and "vieillis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "vieillir" or "vieillis"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vieillir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vieillis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vieillir" and "vieillis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vieillis 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 #169,149 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.