varvsvoyWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,629
“var” frequency rank
#48,860
“voy” frequency rank
53489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature var voy
Definition Unité de puissance réactive qui correspond à un courant alternatif de 1 ampère sous une chute de tension de 1 volt Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe irrégulier ir (« aller »).

Where the eye mixes var and voy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
var
3 ch
voy

Visual trap between var and voy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: var is \vaʁ\ while voy is \ˈboj\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

var is recorded at frequency rank #4,629, classified as anoun, pronounced \vaʁ\. voy is at rank #48,860, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈboj\.

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 53489, this pair ranks #140,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of var vs voy

Shared letters: v. Private to "var": ar. Private to "voy": oy.

"var" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "voy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "var" for "voy" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "var" is a noun and "voy" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "var" or "voy" show up more?
"var" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,629 in our French list, against #48,860 for "voy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "var" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "var" and "voy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs voy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #140,375 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