envoléevsenvolerTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#24,208
“envolée” frequency rank
#14,033
“envoler” frequency rank
38241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Same sound, different letters: envolée vs envoler

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. envolée (VCCVCVV) and envoler (VCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
envolée
7 ch
envoler

Same sound, different spelling - envolée / envoler

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: envolée and envoler carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envolée is recorded at frequency rank #24,208, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\. 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 38241, this pair ranks #256,679 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of envolée vs envoler

Shared letters: elnov. Private to "envolée": é. Private to "envoler": r.

"envolée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "envoler" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • envoler ← ennvoler · enovler · envloer · envoelr · envolerr · envoller · envolre · envvoler

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "envolée" for "envoler" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "envolée" is a noun and "envoler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "envolée" vs "envoler" - which ranks higher?
"envoler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,033 in our French list, against #24,208 for "envolée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "envolée" / "envoler". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "envolée" 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 #256,679 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "envolée" and "envoler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enrôlés vs envolée". 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 #256,679 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