vo vs vole, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“vo” and “vole” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,971
“vo” frequency rank: #45,158
“vole” frequency rank: 71129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	vo	vole
Definition	Obsolete form of voe (“sea inlet”).	Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vo and vole apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch

4 ch

vole

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

vo and vole are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vo” sits inside “vole”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vo is recorded at frequency rank #25,971, classified as anoun. vole is at rank #45,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vəʊl/.

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 71129, this pair ranks #47,879 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vo vs vole

Shared letters: ov. Private to "vo": -. Private to "vole": el.

"vo" · 2 letters · shape CV · "vole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

vole ← ovle · vloe · voel · volle · vvole

Frequency comparison

vo#25,971

vole#45,158

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vo" and "vole" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vo” sits inside “vole”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "vo" or "vole"?

"vo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,971 in our English list, against #45,158 for "vole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vo vs vole

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vo” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable