viergevsvitrageTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#2,552
“vierge” frequency rank
#39,595
“vitrage” frequency rank
42147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vierge vitrage
Definition Qualifie une personne qui n’a pas encore eu de relations sexuelles ou un animal qui ne s’est pas encore accouplé. Ensemble des vitres d’un bâtiment, d’un édifice.

Where the eye mixes vierge and vitrage

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vierge runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against vitrage's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
vierge
7 ch
vitrage

Visual trap between vierge and vitrage

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vierge is \vjɛʁʒ\ while vitrage is \vi.tʁaʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vierge is recorded at frequency rank #2,552, classified as anadj, pronounced \vjɛʁʒ\. vitrage is at rank #39,595, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.tʁaʒ\.

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 42147, this pair ranks #227,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vierge vs vitrage

Shared letters: egirv. Private to "vierge": -. Private to "vitrage": at.

"vierge" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "vitrage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vierge ← iverge · veirge · viegre · viereg · viergge · vierrge · virege · vvierge
  • vitrage ← ivtrage · virtage · vitarge · vitraeg · vitragge · vitrgae · vitrrage · vittrage

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vierge" for "vitrage" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vierge" is an adjective and "vitrage" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vierge" or "vitrage"?
"vierge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,552 in our French list, against #39,595 for "vitrage". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vierge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vitrage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vierge" and "vitrage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vitrage vs vitrail". 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 #227,859 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