Which to use
“Virgile” is a name and “virile” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,063
- “Virgile” frequency rank
- #34,357
- “virile” frequency rank
- 57420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Virgile | virile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Publius Vergilius Maro (aussi écrit Virgilius), écrivain latin. | Féminin singulier de viril. |
Where the eye mixes Virgile and virile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Virgile runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against virile's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Virgile and virile
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Virgile is \viʁ.ʒil\ while virile is \vi.ʁil\. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Virgile is recorded at frequency rank #23,063, classified as aname, pronounced \viʁ.ʒil\. virile is at rank #34,357, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.ʁil\.
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 57420, this pair ranks #115,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Virgile vs virile
Shared letters: eilrv. Private to "Virgile": g. Private to "virile": -.
"Virgile" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "virile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Virgile" and "virile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Virgile" or "virile"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Virgile" and "virile" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Virgile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "virile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Virgile" and "virile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigie vs virile". 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 #115,157 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.