Which to use
“vivre” is a verb and “vivres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #515
- “vivre” frequency rank
- #13,294
- “vivres” frequency rank
- 13809
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vivre | vivres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Être doué de vie, être en vie. | Denrées destinées à l’approvisionnement alimentaire. |
Same sound, different letters: vivre vs vivres
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - vivre / vivres
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: vivre and vivres carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vivʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “vivre” sits inside “vivres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vivre is recorded at frequency rank #515, classified as averb, pronounced \vivʁ\. 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 13809, this pair ranks #399,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vivre vs vivres
Shared letters: eirv. Private to "vivre": -. Private to "vivres": s.
"vivre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "vivres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vivre" and "vivres" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "vivre" or "vivres" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "vivre" 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 #399,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vivre" 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 #399,455 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.