Which to use
“vapeur” and “voleur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,722
- “vapeur” frequency rank
- #7,770
- “voleur” frequency rank
- 12492
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vapeur | voleur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exhalaison gazeuse résultant de la transformation partielle ou totale d’une substance ordinairement liquide ou solide en gaz. | Homme qui effectue un vol, qui dérobe, s’approprie le bien d’autrui, ou l’a déjà fait. |
Where the eye mixes vapeur and voleur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vapeur and voleur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: vapeur vs voleur
A purely visual mix-up. vapeur (\va.pœʁ\) and voleur (\vɔ.lœʁ\) 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 12492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vapeur is recorded at frequency rank #4,722, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.pœʁ\. voleur is at rank #7,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔ.lœʁ\.
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 12492, this pair ranks #405,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vapeur vs voleur
Shared letters: eruv. Private to "vapeur": ap. Private to "voleur": lo.
"vapeur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "voleur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vapeur" and "voleur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "vapeur" vs "voleur" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vapeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voleur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vapeur" and "voleur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voleur vs vouer". 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 #405,046 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.