Which to use
“vile” is an adjective and “villes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,122
- “vile” frequency rank
- #891
- “villes” frequency rank
- 38013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vile | villes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de vil. | Pluriel de ville. |
Same sound, different letters: vile vs villes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. vile runs 4 letters (CVCV) against villes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - vile and villes
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: vile and villes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vil\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vile is recorded at frequency rank #37,122, classified as anadj, pronounced \vil\. villes is at rank #891, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vil\.
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 38013, this pair ranks #258,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vile vs villes
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vile": -. Private to "villes": s.
"vile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "villes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vile" and "villes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "vile" or "villes"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "vile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "villes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #258,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vile" and "villes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vile 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 #258,326 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.