Which to use
“vir” and “vire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,521
- “vir” frequency rank
- #9,094
- “vire” frequency rank
- 55615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vir | vire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme mutée de bir par adoucissement (b → v). | Étroite plate-forme ou corniche sur les flancs d’une paroi rocheuse, sentier serpentant le long d’une montagne. |
Where the eye mixes vir and vire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between vir and vire
A purely visual mix-up. vir (\ˈviː.r\) and vire (\viʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “vir” sits inside “vire”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vir is recorded at frequency rank #46,521, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈviː.r\. vire is at rank #9,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced \viʁ\.
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 55615, this pair ranks #126,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vir vs vire
Shared letters: irv. Private to "vir": -. Private to "vire": e.
"vir" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "vire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- vire ← vrie
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vir" for "vire" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "vir" or "vire" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vir" and "vire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vir 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 #126,326 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.