Which to use
“vipère” is a noun and “vivre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,021
- “vipère” frequency rank
- #515
- “vivre” frequency rank
- 30536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vipère | vivre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Une des espèces de serpents de taille modérée, à tête triangulaire aux nombreuses petites écailles, à pupilles elliptiques et à queue courte. | Être doué de vie, être en vie. |
Where the eye mixes vipère and vivre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses vipère with vivre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vipère is \vi.pɛʁ\ while vivre is \vivʁ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vipère is recorded at frequency rank #30,021, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.pɛʁ\. vivre is at rank #515, tagged as averb, pronounced \vivʁ\.
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 30536, this pair ranks #309,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vipère vs vivre
Shared letters: eirv. Private to "vipère": pè. Private to "vivre": -.
"vipère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "vivre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- vivre ← ivvre · virve · viver · vivrre · vivvre · vvire · vvivre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vipère" for "vivre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vipère" vs "vivre" - which ranks higher?
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 "vipère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vivre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #309,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vipère" and "vivre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Viper vs vipère". 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 #309,645 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.