vivevsvivresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,206
“vive” frequency rank
#13,294
“vivres” frequency rank
15500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vive vivres
Definition Type de poisson osseux marin de l’Atlantique, de la Méditerranée et de la mer Noire, qui possède une épine dorsale venimeuse, et a la bouche inclinée vers le haut et les yeux situés au-dessus de la tête, de la famille des trachinidés, par exemple la grande vive. Denrées destinées à l’approvisionnement alimentaire.

Where the eye mixes vive and vivres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vive
6 ch
vivres

Visual trap between vive and vivres

A purely visual mix-up. vive (\viv\) and vivres (\vivʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vive is recorded at frequency rank #2,206, classified as anoun, pronounced \viv\. vivres is at rank #13,294, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vivʁ\.

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 15500, this pair ranks #392,076 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vive vs vivres

Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vive": -. Private to "vivres": rs.

"vive" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vivres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viveivve · viev · vivve · vvie · vvive
  • vivresivvres · virves · vivers · vivress · vivrres · vivrse · vivvres · vvires

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vive" and "vivres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\viv\ versus \vivʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vive" vs "vivres" - which ranks higher?
"vive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,206 in our French list, against #13,294 for "vivres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vivres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,076 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vive" and "vivres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vivrais vs vivres". 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 #392,076 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