vole
/voʊl/noun
vole is spelled V-O-L-E: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, vole means “Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vole is voles.
How many letters and syllables are in vole?
| Letters | 4: V-O-L-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 44,767th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is vole?
Vole appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce vole?
- UK /vəʊl/
- UK [vɔʊɫ]
- US /voʊl/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-vole.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with vole?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as vole from its last stressed vowel (/oʊl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: love, levo.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of vole
- voles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- voling participle, present
- voled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does vole mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini.
- 2
archaicA deal in a card game, écarté, that draws all the tricks.
verb
- 1
archaicTo win all the tricks by a vole.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Vole in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | campagnol |
| German | Wühlmaus |
| Portuguese | rato-do-campo |
| Spanish | campañol, topillo, rata de agua |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does vole come from?
Borrowed from Norn vollj, from Old Norse vǫllr (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *walþuz (“forest”). The Orkney dialectal term vole mouse, lit. “field mouse”, was introduced to general English by George Barry in 1805; John Fleming in 1828 was first to refer to the creature by the epithet vole alone. Displaced earlier names for these species which also classified them as mice, e.g. short-tailed field mouse.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).