Which to use
“vilaine” and “vilains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,938
- “vilaine” frequency rank
- #20,017
- “vilains” frequency rank
- 29955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vilaine | vilains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de vilain. | Masculin pluriel de vilain. |
Where the eye mixes vilaine and vilains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vilaine (CVCVVCV) and vilains (CVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: vilaine vs vilains
A purely visual mix-up. vilaine (\vi.lɛn\) and vilains (\vi.lɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “vilaine” becomes s in “vilains”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vilaine is recorded at frequency rank #9,938, classified as anadj, pronounced \vi.lɛn\. vilains is at rank #20,017, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.lɛ̃\.
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 29955, this pair ranks #313,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vilaine vs vilains
Shared letters: ailnv. Private to "vilaine": e. Private to "vilains": s.
"vilaine" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "vilains" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vilaine" and "vilains" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "vilaine" vs "vilains" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vilaine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vilains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vilaine" and "vilains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vilains vs visais". 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 #313,399 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.