vol
\vɔl\
The verdict
“vol” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #929 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #929
- frequency rank, French
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mouvement des oiseaux et de divers animaux, qui se soutiennent et avancent dans l’air au moyen de leurs ailes.
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 | vol |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \vɔl\ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #929 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vol” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for vol is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \vɔl\. Corpus data places it at rank #929 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
vol doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vu", "vs", "VR", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is vol, spelled V-O-L.
Definition
- 1Mouvement des oiseaux et de divers animaux, qui se soutiennent et avancent dans l’air au moyen de leurs ailes.
- 2Mouvement des appareils plus lourds que l’air qui s’élèvent et se meuvent dans l’air.
- 3Déplacement ou transport de ceux qui montent dans ces appareils.
- 4Étendue, longueur, durée, de ce déplacement en une fois.
- 5Quantité d’oiseaux ou d’insectes qui arrivent en même temps en un lieu.
- 6Meuble représentant une paire d’ailes attachées dans les armoiries. Il est représenté éployé (on voit le dessous des ailes), les rémiges primaires pointant vers le chef. À rapprocher de aile et demi-vol.
- 7Se dit des ailes des oiseaux lorsque celles-ci ont une caractéristique (forme, position, nature, orientation…) qui sort de l’ordinaire.
- 8Série d’étapes d’un algorithme ou d’une suite récurrente aboutissant par exemple à une racine, à un point fixe, à un cycle, etc.
- 9Chasse avec des oiseaux de proie.
This word in other languages
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “vol”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is V-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \vɔl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vu” - see the side-by-side comparison. vol vs vu
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.