vivvsvivezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,426
“viv” frequency rank
#9,096
“vivez” frequency rank
58522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature viv vivez
Definition Vivre. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de vivre.

Where the eye mixes viv and vivez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
viv
5 ch
vivez

Look-alike desk: viv vs vivez

A purely visual mix-up. viv (\viv\) and vivez (\vi.ve\) 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 extra letter(s) - “viv” sits inside “vivez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viv is recorded at frequency rank #49,426, classified as averb, pronounced \viv\. vivez is at rank #9,096, tagged as averb, pronounced \vi.ve\.

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 58522, this pair ranks #108,576 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of viv vs vivez

Shared letters: iv. Private to "viv": -. Private to "vivez": ez.

"viv" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vivez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vivezivvez · vievz · vivezz · vivvez · vivze · vviez · vvivez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "viv" for "vivez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\viv\ versus \vi.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "viv" vs "vivez" - which ranks higher?
"vivez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,096 in our French list, against #49,426 for "viv". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "viv" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vivez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,576 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "viv" and "vivez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vial vs viv". 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 #108,576 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