vilvsVisTell them apart

Quick tell: vil is a adjective, Vis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vil” is an adjective and “Vis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,593
“vil” frequency rank
#21,333
“Vis” frequency rank
47926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vil Vis
Definition reles um sobrenome

Where the eye mixes vil and Vis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
vil
3 ch
Vis

Look-alike desk: vil vs Vis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vil is /ˈviɫ/ while Vis is /vɪs/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “vil” becomes s in “Vis”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vil is recorded at frequency rank #26,593, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈviɫ/. Vis is at rank #21,333, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɪs/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 47926, this pair ranks #17,288 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vil vs Vis

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vil": l. Private to "Vis": s.

"vil" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vil" and "Vis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vil" is an adjective and "Vis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vil" or "Vis" show up more?
"Vis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,333 in our Portuguese list, against #26,593 for "vil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "vil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,288 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vil" and "Vis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velo vs vil". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #17,288 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list