vir vs vus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“vir” is a noun and “vus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,521
“vir” frequency rank: #5,090
“vus” frequency rank: 51611
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	vir	vus
Definition	Forme mutée de bir par adoucissement (b → v).	Participe passé masculin pluriel de voir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vir and vus apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

vir

3 ch

vus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vir is \ˈviː.r\ while vus is \vy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51611, 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\. vus is at rank #5,090, tagged as averb, pronounced \vy\.

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 51611, this pair ranks #153,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vir vs vus

Shared letters: v. Private to "vir": ir. Private to "vus": su.

"vir" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "vus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

vir#46,521

vus#5,090

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vir" and "vus" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vir" is a noun and "vus" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "vir" or "vus"?

"vus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,090 in our French list, against #46,521 for "vir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vir vs vus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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