Which to use
“vielle” and “vigile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,035
- “vielle” frequency rank
- #20,888
- “vigile” frequency rank
- 37923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vielle | vigile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument de musique à cordes, dont on joue par le moyen de touches et d’une roue qu’on tourne avec une manivelle, qui permet de faire sonner les cordes mélodiques et bourdon, et, par accélérations rapides, de faire vibrer la corde trompette et le chien pour donner un son caractéristique grésillant. | 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 vielle and vigile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vielle (CVVCCV) and vigile (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses vielle with vigile
A purely visual mix-up. vielle (\vjɛl\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vielle is recorded at frequency rank #17,035, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɛl\. 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 37923, this pair ranks #259,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vielle vs vigile
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vielle": -. Private to "vigile": g.
"vielle" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "vigile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vielle" and "vigile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "vielle" or "vigile" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vielle" 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 #259,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vielle" 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 #259,002 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.