Which to use
“vil” and “viril” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,730
- “vil” frequency rank
- #20,889
- “viril” frequency rank
- 44619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vil | viril |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est bas, abject, méprisable. | Qui appartient à l’homme, en tant que mâle. |
Where the eye mixes vil and viril
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: vil vs viril
A purely visual mix-up. vil (\vil\) and viril (\vi.ʁil\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vil is recorded at frequency rank #23,730, classified as anadj, pronounced \vil\. viril is at rank #20,889, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.ʁil\.
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 44619, this pair ranks #209,090 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vil vs viril
Shared letters: ilv. Private to "vil": -. Private to "viril": r.
"vil" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "viril" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- viril ← ivril · viirl · virill · virli · virril · vriil · vviril
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vil" for "viril" ever safe?
Which is more common, "vil" or "viril"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "vil" and "viril" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "viril" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,090 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vil" and "viril" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vil vs viv". 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 #209,090 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.