voltagevsvoyageWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,975
“voltage” frequency rank
#8,502
“voyage” frequency rank
15477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voltage voyage
Definition The difference in electrostatic potential between two points in space, especially between live and neutral conductors or the earth. A long journey, especially by ship.

Where the eye mixes voltage and voyage

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
voltage
6 ch
voyage

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. voltage (/ˈvəʊltɪd͡ʒ/) and voyage (/ˈvɔɪ.ɪd͡ʒ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

voltage is recorded at frequency rank #6,975, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvəʊltɪd͡ʒ/. voyage is at rank #8,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɔɪ.ɪd͡ʒ/.

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 15477, this pair ranks #463,708 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of voltage vs voyage

Shared letters: aegov. Private to "voltage": lt. Private to "voyage": y.

"voltage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "voyage" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voltageovltage · vlotage · volatge · volltage · voltaeg · voltagge · voltgae · volttage
  • voyageovyage · voayge · voyaeg · voyagge · voygae · voyyage · vvoyage · vyoage

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voltage" and "voyage" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvəʊltɪd͡ʒ/ versus /ˈvɔɪ.ɪd͡ʒ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "voltage" or "voyage"?
"voltage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,975 in our English list, against #8,502 for "voyage". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list