Which to use
“vos” is a determiner and “vus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #207
- “vos” frequency rank
- #5,090
- “vus” frequency rank
- 5297
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vos | vus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui sont à vous, qui vous appartiennent. Deuxième personne du pluriel. Plusieurs possesseurs et plusieurs objets, ou un seul possesseur (forme de politesse) et plusieurs objets. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de voir. |
Where the eye mixes vos and vus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between vos and vus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vos is \vo\ while vus is \vy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - o in “vos” becomes u in “vus”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vos is recorded at frequency rank #207, classified as adet, pronounced \vo\. vus is at rank #5,090, tagged as averb, pronounced \vy\.
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 5297, this pair ranks #429,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vos vs vus
Shared letters: sv. Private to "vos": o. Private to "vus": u.
"vos" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "vus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vos" for "vus" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "vos" or "vus" show up more?
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 "vos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vos" and "vus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs vus". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #429,414 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.