Which to use
“vole” and “volley” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,158
- “vole” frequency rank
- #21,409
- “volley” frequency rank
- 66567
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vole | volley |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini. | The simultaneous firing of a number of missiles or bullets; the projectiles so fired. |
Where the eye mixes vole and volley
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vole runs 4 letters (CVCV) against volley's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between vole and volley
A purely visual mix-up. vole (/vəʊl/) and volley (/ˈvɒli/) 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 66567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vole is recorded at frequency rank #45,158, classified as anoun, pronounced /vəʊl/. volley is at rank #21,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɒli/.
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 66567, this pair ranks #67,369 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of vole vs volley
Shared letters: elov. Private to "vole": -. Private to "volley": y.
"vole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "volley" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vole" for "volley" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vole" vs "volley" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "vole" and "volley" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "volley" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,369 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vole" and "volley" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vel vs vole". 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 #67,369 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.