volevsvolumeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,158
“vole” frequency rank
#1,806
“volume” frequency rank
46964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vole volume
Definition Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini. A three-dimensional measure of space that comprises a length, a width and a height. It is measured in units of cubic centimeters in metric, cubic inches or cubic feet in English measurement.

Where the eye mixes vole and volume

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vole
6 ch
volume

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. vole (/vəʊl/) and volume (/ˈvɒl.juːm/) 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 46964, 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/. volume is at rank #1,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɒl.juːm/.

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 46964, this pair ranks #206,863 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vole vs volume

Shared letters: elov. Private to "vole": -. Private to "volume": mu.

"vole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "volume" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voleovle · vloe · voel · volle · vvole
  • volumeovlume · vloume · vollume · volmue · voluem · volumme · voulme · vvolume

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vole" and "volume" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/vəʊl/ versus /ˈvɒl.juːm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vole" or "volume"?
"volume" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,806 in our English list, against #45,158 for "vole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list