Which to use
“virus” and “vis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,114
- “virus” frequency rank
- #993
- “vis” frequency rank
- 4107
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | virus | vis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entité biologique qui nécessite une cellule hôte, dont il utilise les constituants pour se multiplier. | Pièce mécanique formée d’un corps qui comporte un filet de forme hélicoïdale et une tête où une empreinte permet d’appliquer un couple ; il en résulte un double mouvement de rotation et de translation. En mécanique, elles sont souvent employées avec des écrous pour former des boulons. |
Where the eye mixes virus and vis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between virus and vis
A purely visual mix-up. virus (\vi.ʁys\) and vis (\vis\) 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 4107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
virus is recorded at frequency rank #3,114, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.ʁys\. vis is at rank #993, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vis\.
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 4107, this pair ranks #432,446 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of virus vs vis
Shared letters: isv. Private to "virus": ru. Private to "vis": -.
"virus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- virus ← ivrus · virrus · virsu · viruss · viurs · vrius · vvirus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "virus" and "vis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "virus" or "vis" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "virus" and "vis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "virus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,446 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "virus" and "vis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "virées vs virus". 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 #432,446 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.