Which to use
“vilains” is an adjective and “Vilnius” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,017
- “vilains” frequency rank
- #38,096
- “Vilnius” frequency rank
- 58113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vilains | Vilnius |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de vilain. | Capitale de la Lituanie. |
Where the eye mixes vilains and Vilnius
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vilains (CVCVVCC) and Vilnius (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between vilains and Vilnius
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vilains is \vi.lɛ̃\ while Vilnius is \vil.njys\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vilains is recorded at frequency rank #20,017, classified as anadj, pronounced \vi.lɛ̃\. Vilnius is at rank #38,096, tagged as aname, pronounced \vil.njys\.
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 58113, this pair ranks #110,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of vilains vs Vilnius
Shared letters: ilnsv. Private to "vilains": a. Private to "Vilnius": u.
"vilains" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "Vilnius" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vilains" for "Vilnius" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "vilains" or "Vilnius" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "vilains" and "Vilnius" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vilains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Vilnius" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vilains" and "Vilnius" 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 #110,951 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.