Which to use
“vivais” and “voyais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,364
- “vivais” frequency rank
- #6,354
- “voyais” frequency rank
- 24718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vivais | voyais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de vivre. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de voir. |
Where the eye mixes vivais and voyais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vivais (CVCVVC) and voyais (CVVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses vivais with voyais
A purely visual mix-up. vivais (\vi.vɛ\) and voyais (\vwa.jɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24718, 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\. voyais is at rank #6,354, tagged as averb, pronounced \vwa.jɛ\.
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 24718, this pair ranks #345,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vivais vs voyais
Shared letters: aisv. Private to "vivais": -. Private to "voyais": oy.
"vivais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "voyais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vivais" and "voyais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "vivais" or "voyais"?
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 "vivais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voyais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #345,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vivais" and "voyais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vivais 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 #345,015 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.