Which to use
“vigile” and “virgule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,888
- “vigile” frequency rank
- #17,308
- “virgule” frequency rank
- 38196
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vigile | virgule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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). | Signe de ponctuation divisant certaines propositions dans une phrase, indiquant une pause : ‹ , ›. |
Where the eye mixes vigile and virgule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vigile runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against virgule's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between vigile and virgule
A purely visual mix-up. vigile (\vi.ʒil\) and virgule (\viʁ.ɡyl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vigile is recorded at frequency rank #20,888, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.ʒil\. virgule is at rank #17,308, tagged as anoun, pronounced \viʁ.ɡyl\.
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 38196, this pair ranks #256,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vigile vs virgule
Shared letters: egilv. Private to "vigile": -. Private to "virgule": ru.
"vigile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "virgule" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vigile" for "virgule" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vigile" vs "virgule" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "vigile" and "virgule" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vigile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "virgule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #256,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vigile" and "virgule" 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 #256,984 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.