Voltaire
/vəʊlˈtɛə(ɹ)/
"voltaire" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Voltaire” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #27,331. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #27,331
- frequency rank, English
- 7,391
- “V” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname from French.
Corpus desk
Index EN-voltaire · Voltaire · English
Voltaire · rank #27,331 · 11 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-MID #27,331
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 7,391
- PHOTO-FINISH wading
Nearest frequency peer: wading (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Voltaire”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- utilitarian
utilitarian
72,675 corpus weight
- vehicular
vehicular
72,673 corpus weight
- vetted
vetted
72,672 corpus weight
- Voltaire
Voltaire
72,670 corpus weight
- wading
wading
72,669 corpus weight
- waning
waning
72,667 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Voltaire” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Voltaire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /vəʊlˈtɛə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #27,331 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Voltaire” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around Voltaire (IPA /vəʊlˈtɛə(ɹ)/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #27,331 among 7,391 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for Voltaire, with forms such as "ovltaire", "vlotaire", and "volatire". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "voltage", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French Voltaire. The surname is mostly found in Haiti. The correct English form is Voltaire, spelled V-O-L-T-A-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1A surname from French.
- 2A pen name of the French philosopher François-Marie Arouet.
- 3A city in McHenry County, North Dakota, United States.
Etymology
Borrowed from French Voltaire. The surname is mostly found in Haiti.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ovltaire
- vlotaire
- volatire
- volltaire
- voltaier
- voltairre
- voltarie
- voltiare
- volttaire
- votlaire
- vvoltaire
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Voltaire - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Voltaire"?
What does "Voltaire" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Voltaire", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.