vasvsvoyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#593
“vas” frequency rank
#48,860
“voy” frequency rank
49453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vas voy
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de aller. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe irrégulier ir (« aller »).

Where the eye mixes vas and voy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. vas (CVC) and voy (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
vas
3 ch
voy

Look-alike desk: vas vs voy

A purely visual mix-up. vas (\va\) and voy (\ˈboj\) 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 49453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vas is recorded at frequency rank #593, classified as averb, pronounced \va\. 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 49453, this pair ranks #170,542 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vas vs voy

Shared letters: v. Private to "vas": as. Private to "voy": oy.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vas" and "voy" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\va\ versus \ˈboj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vas" or "voy"?
"vas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #593 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 "vas" 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 #170,542 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vas" and "voy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs voy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #170,542 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