vilsvsvoilàWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vils is a adjective, voilà is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vils” is an adjective and “voilà” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,805
“vils” frequency rank
#458
“voilà” frequency rank
45263
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vils voilà
Definition Masculin pluriel de vil. Utilisé pour désigner une personne, une chose ou une action, ou pour y faire référence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vils and voilà apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
vils
5 ch
voilà

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vils is \vil\ while voilà is \vwa.la\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45263, 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\. voilà is at rank #458, tagged as averb, pronounced \vwa.la\.

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 45263, this pair ranks #204,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vils vs voilà

Shared letters: ilv. Private to "vils": s. Private to "voilà": .

"vils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "voilà" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vilsivls · vills · vilss · visl · vlis · vvils

Frequency comparison

vils#44,805
voilà#458

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vils" and "voilà" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vils" is an adjective and "voilà" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vils" or "voilà"?
"voilà" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #458 in our French list, against #44,805 for "vils". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vils vs voilà

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list