envolvsenvolerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#16,871
“envol” frequency rank
#14,033
“envoler” frequency rank
30904
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envol envoler
Definition Action de s’envoler. (Utilisé uniquement dans s’envoler) Voler ailleurs.

Where the eye mixes envol and envoler

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

5 ch
envol
7 ch
envoler

Why the eye confuses envol with envoler

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: envol is \ɑ̃.vɔl\ while envoler is \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “envol” sits inside “envoler”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envol is recorded at frequency rank #16,871, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɔl\. envoler is at rank #14,033, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\.

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 30904, this pair ranks #307,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of envol vs envoler

Shared letters: elnov. Private to "envol": -. Private to "envoler": r.

"envol" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "envoler" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • envolennvol · enovl · envlo · envoll · envvol · evnol · nevol
  • envolerennvoler · enovler · envloer · envoelr · envolerr · envoller · envolre · envvoler

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "envol" and "envoler" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "envol" is a noun and "envoler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "envol" or "envoler"?
"envoler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,033 in our French list, against #16,871 for "envol". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "envol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "envoler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "envol" and "envoler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Engel vs envol". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #307,268 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list