visionvsvisonWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,615
“vision” frequency rank
#36,204
“vison” frequency rank
37819
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vision vison
Definition Action, capacité de voir ; vue. Espèce de petit mammifère de la famille des mustélidés, dont la fourrure est très estimée.

Where the eye mixes vision and vison

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
vision
5 ch
vison

Why the eye confuses vision with vison

A purely visual mix-up. vision (\vi.zjɔ̃\) and vison (\vi.zɔ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vision is recorded at frequency rank #1,615, classified as anoun, pronounced \vi.zjɔ̃\. vison is at rank #36,204, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vi.zɔ̃\.

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 37819, this pair ranks #259,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vision vs vison

Shared letters: inosv. Private to "vision": -. Private to "vison": -.

"vision" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "vison" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • visionivsion · viison · visino · visionn · visoin · vission · vsiion · vvision
  • visonivson · viosn · visno · visonn · visson · vsion · vvison

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vision" and "vison" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vi.zjɔ̃\ versus \vi.zɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vision" or "vison"?
"vision" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,615 in our French list, against #36,204 for "vison". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vision" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vision" and "vison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigan vs vison". 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 #259,724 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