vile vs villes, What's the Difference?

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.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vile and villes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

vile

6 ch

villes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

vile ← ivle · vlie · vvile
villes ← ivlles · vilels · viles · villess · villse · vliles · vvilles

Frequency comparison

vile#37,122

villes#891

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vile" and "villes" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vile" is an adjective and "villes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "vile" or "villes"?

"villes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #891 in our French list, against #37,122 for "vile". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vile vs villes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “vile”; for a noun, it's “villes”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vile” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable