vinvsvingtConfusable pair

Quick tell: vin is a noun, vingt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vin” is a noun and “vingt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,383
“vin” frequency rank
#1,281
“vingt” frequency rank
2664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vin vingt
Definition Boisson alcoolique obtenue par fermentation du jus de raisin et connue depuis plusieurs millénaires. Dix-neuf plus un, soit deux fois dix, adjectif numéral cardinal correspondant au nombre 20.

Same sound, different letters: vin vs vingt

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.

3 ch
vin
5 ch
vingt

Ear matches; page differs - vin and vingt

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: vin and vingt carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vɛ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vin” sits inside “vingt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vin is recorded at frequency rank #1,383, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɛ̃\. vingt is at rank #1,281, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vɛ̃\.

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 2664, this pair ranks #435,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vin vs vingt

Shared letters: inv. Private to "vin": -. Private to "vingt": gt.

"vin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vingt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vingtivngt · vignt · vinggt · vingtt · vinngt · vintg · vnigt · vvingt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vin" and "vingt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vin" is a noun and "vingt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vin" or "vingt"?
"vingt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,281 in our French list, against #1,383 for "vin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "vin" / "vingt". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vingt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vin" and "vingt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigan vs vin". 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 #435,697 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list