virevsVRWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“vire” and “VR” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,094
“vire” frequency rank
#16,036
“VR” frequency rank
25130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vire VR
Definition Étroite plate-forme ou corniche sur les flancs d’une paroi rocheuse, sentier serpentant le long d’une montagne. Abréviation de véhicule récréatif.

Where the eye mixes vire and VR

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vire
2 ch
VR

Visual trap between vire and VR

A purely visual mix-up. vire (\viʁ\) and VR (\ve.ɛʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25130, 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\. VR is at rank #16,036, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ve.ɛʁ\.

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 25130, this pair ranks #342,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vire vs VR

Shared letters: rv. Private to "vire": ei. Private to "VR": -.

"vire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "VR" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vire" and "VR" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\viʁ\ versus \ve.ɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vire" vs "VR" - which ranks higher?
"vire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,094 in our French list, against #16,036 for "VR". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "VR" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #342,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vire" and "VR" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs VR". 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 #342,637 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