Which to use
“vils” is an adjective and “violés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,805
- “vils” frequency rank
- #36,651
- “violés” frequency rank
- 81456
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vils | violés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de vil. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de violer. |
Where the eye mixes vils and violés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vils runs 4 letters (CVCC) against violés's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vils with violés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vils is \vil\ while violés is \vjɔ.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vils is recorded at frequency rank #44,805, classified as anadj, pronounced \vil\. violés is at rank #36,651, tagged as averb, pronounced \vjɔ.le\.
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 81456, this pair ranks #18,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of vils vs violés
Shared letters: ilsv. Private to "vils": -. Private to "violés": oé.
"vils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "violés" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vils ← ivls · vills · vilss · visl · vlis · vvils
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vils" and "violés" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "vils" or "violés"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "violés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vils" and "violés" 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 #18,706 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.