Which to use
“vivants” is an adjective and “vivons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,903
- “vivants” frequency rank
- #7,387
- “vivons” frequency rank
- 12290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vivants | vivons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de vivant. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de vivre. |
Where the eye mixes vivants and vivons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vivants runs 7 letters (CVCVCCC) against vivons's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: vivants vs vivons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vivants is \vi.vɑ̃\ while vivons is \vi.vɔ̃\. 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 12290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vivants is recorded at frequency rank #4,903, classified as anadj, pronounced \vi.vɑ̃\. vivons is at rank #7,387, tagged as averb, pronounced \vi.vɔ̃\.
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 12290, this pair ranks #405,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vivants vs vivons
Shared letters: insv. Private to "vivants": at. Private to "vivons": o.
"vivants" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "vivons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vivants" and "vivons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "vivants" or "vivons"?
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 "vivants" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vivons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vivants" and "vivons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "visons vs vivons". 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 #405,850 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.