vacantsvsvoyantsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“vacants” and “voyants” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,310
“vacants” frequency rank
#27,293
“voyants” frequency rank
47603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vacants voyants
Definition Masculin pluriel de vacant. Masculin pluriel de voyant.

Where the eye mixes vacants and voyants

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vacants (CVCVCCC) and voyants (CVVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
vacants
7 ch
voyants

Why the eye confuses vacants with voyants

A purely visual mix-up. vacants (\va.kɑ̃\) and voyants (\vwa.jɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vacants is recorded at frequency rank #20,310, classified as anadj, pronounced \va.kɑ̃\. voyants is at rank #27,293, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vwa.jɑ̃\.

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 47603, this pair ranks #185,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vacants vs voyants

Shared letters: anstv. Private to "vacants": c. Private to "voyants": oy.

"vacants" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "voyants" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vacantsavcants · vaacnts · vacannts · vacanst · vacantss · vacantts · vacatns · vaccants
  • voyantsovyants · voaynts · voyannts · voyanst · voyantss · voyantts · voyatns · voynats

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vacants" and "voyants" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\va.kɑ̃\ versus \vwa.jɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vacants" or "voyants"?
"vacants" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,310 in our French list, against #27,293 for "voyants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vacants" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voyants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vacants" and "voyants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacante vs vacants". 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 #185,636 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