virevsvisezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vire is a noun, visez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#9,094
“vire” frequency rank
#47,098
“visez” frequency rank
56192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vire visez
Definition Étroite plate-forme ou corniche sur les flancs d’une paroi rocheuse, sentier serpentant le long d’une montagne. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de viser.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
vire
5 ch
visez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vire is \viʁ\ while visez is \vi.ze\. 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 56192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vire is recorded at frequency rank #9,094, classified as anoun, pronounced \viʁ\. visez is at rank #47,098, tagged as averb, pronounced \vi.ze\.

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 56192, this pair ranks #122,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vire vs visez

Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vire": r. Private to "visez": sz.

"vire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "visez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • virevrie
  • visezivsez · viesz · visezz · vissez · visze · vsiez · vvisez

Frequency comparison

vire#9,094
visez#47,098

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vire" and "visez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vire" is a noun and "visez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vire" or "visez"?
"vire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,094 in our French list, against #47,098 for "visez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vire vs visez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “vire”; for a verb, it's “visez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vire” 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