vitevsvotésConfusable pair

Quick tell: vite is a adjective, votés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vite” is an adjective and “votés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#406
“vite” frequency rank
#27,660
“votés” frequency rank
28066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vite votés
Definition Rapide, qui se meut avec célérité, avec promptitude ; se dit surtout dans le sport, sinon plutôt des animaux et des choses dont le mouvement est rapide. Participe passé masculin pluriel de voter.

Where the eye mixes vite and votés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. vite runs 4 letters (CVCV) against votés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
vite
5 ch
votés

Why the eye confuses vite with votés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vite is \vit\ while votés is \vɔ.te\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vite is recorded at frequency rank #406, classified as anadj, pronounced \vit\. votés is at rank #27,660, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɔ.te\.

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 28066, this pair ranks #325,113 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vite vs votés

Shared letters: tv. Private to "vite": ei. Private to "votés": osé.

"vite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "votés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vite ← ivte · vitte · vtie · vvite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vite" for "votés" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vite" is an adjective and "votés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vite" or "votés"?
"vite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #406 in our French list, against #27,660 for "votés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vite" and "votés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "votés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,113 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vite" and "votés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "votés vs voûtée". 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 #325,113 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