virvsvoyTell them apart

Quick tell: vir is a noun, voy is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vir” is a noun and “voy” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,303
“vir” frequency rank
#156
“voy” frequency rank
35459
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vir voy
Definition Mutación suave del sustantivo femenino bir ('flecha') Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de ir o de irse.

Where the eye mixes vir and voy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
vir
3 ch
voy

Visual trap between vir and voy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vir is [ˈviːr] while voy is [ˈboj]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vir is recorded at frequency rank #35,303, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːr]. voy is at rank #156, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈboj].

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 35459, this pair ranks #185,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vir vs voy

Shared letters: v. Private to "vir": ir. Private to "voy": oy.

"vir" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "voy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vir" and "voy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vir" is a noun and "voy" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vir" or "voy"?
"voy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #156 in our Spanish list, against #35,303 for "vir". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "vir" and "voy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vir" and "voy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vir vs VOR". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #185,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list