Which to use
“vile” is an adjective and “viole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,122
- “vile” frequency rank
- #13,489
- “viole” frequency rank
- 50611
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vile | viole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de vil. | Instrument de musique à six ou sept cordes, dont on joue avec un archet. |
Where the eye mixes vile and viole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vile runs 4 letters (CVCV) against viole's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vile with viole
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vile is \vil\ while viole is \vjɔl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50611, 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\. viole is at rank #13,489, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔl\.
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 50611, this pair ranks #161,280 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vile vs viole
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vile": -. Private to "viole": o.
"vile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "viole" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vile" for "viole" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vile" vs "viole" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "vile" and "viole" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "viole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,280 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vile" and "viole" 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 #161,280 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.