viervsviergeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vier is a noun, vierge is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vier” is a noun and “vierge” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,592
“vier” frequency rank
#2,552
“vierge” frequency rank
44144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vier vierge
Definition Pénis. Qualifie une personne qui n’a pas encore eu de relations sexuelles ou un animal qui ne s’est pas encore accouplé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vier and vierge apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
vier
6 ch
vierge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vier is \vje\ while vierge is \vjɛʁʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vier” sits inside “vierge”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vier is recorded at frequency rank #41,592, classified as anoun, pronounced \vje\. vierge is at rank #2,552, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vjɛʁʒ\.

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 44144, this pair ranks #212,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vier vs vierge

Shared letters: eirv. Private to "vier": -. Private to "vierge": g.

"vier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vierge" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vierveir · vvier
  • viergeiverge · veirge · viegre · viereg · viergge · vierrge · virege · vvierge

Frequency comparison

vier#41,592
vierge#2,552

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vier" and "vierge" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vier" is a noun and "vierge" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vier" or "vierge"?
"vierge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,552 in our French list, against #41,592 for "vier". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vier vs vierge

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “vier”; for an adjective, it's “vierge”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vier” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list