Which to use
“vile” and “vils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,122
- “vile” frequency rank
- #44,805
- “vils” frequency rank
- 81927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vile | vils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de vil. | Masculin pluriel de vil. |
Same sound, different letters: vile vs vils
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. vile (CVCV) and vils (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: vile vs vils
This is the hard kind. vile and vils are pronounced identically (\vil\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “vile” becomes s in “vils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81927, 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\. vils is at rank #44,805, tagged as anadj, 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 81927, this pair ranks #17,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of vile vs vils
Shared letters: ilv. Private to "vile": e. Private to "vils": s.
"vile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "vils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vile" for "vils" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vile" vs "vils" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "vile" / "vils". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "vile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vile" and "vils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vils 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 #17,767 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.