vivaisvsvivraisConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,364
“vivais” frequency rank
#48,259
“vivrais” frequency rank
66623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vivais vivrais
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de vivre. Première personne du singulier du conditionnel de vivre.

Where the eye mixes vivais and vivrais

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vivais runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against vivrais's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
vivais
7 ch
vivrais

Why the eye confuses vivais with vivrais

A purely visual mix-up. vivais (\vi.vɛ\) and vivrais (\vi.vʁɛ\) 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 66623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vivais is recorded at frequency rank #18,364, classified as averb, pronounced \vi.vɛ\. vivrais is at rank #48,259, tagged as averb, pronounced \vi.vʁɛ\.

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 66623, this pair ranks #67,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vivais vs vivrais

Shared letters: aisv. Private to "vivais": -. Private to "vivrais": r.

"vivais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "vivrais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vivaisivvais · viavis · vivaiss · vivasi · vivias · vivvais · vviais · vvivais
  • vivraisivvrais · virvais · vivaris · vivraiss · vivrasi · vivrias · vivrrais · vivvrais

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vivais" and "vivrais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\vi.vɛ\ versus \vi.vʁɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vivais" or "vivrais"?
"vivais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,364 in our French list, against #48,259 for "vivrais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vivais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vivrais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vivais" and "vivrais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vivrai vs vivrais". 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 #67,024 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