veuxvsvouiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: veux is a verb, voui is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“veux” is a verb and “voui” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#206
“veux” frequency rank
#45,950
“voui” frequency rank
46156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature veux voui
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de vouloir. Oui.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set veux and voui apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
veux
4 ch
voui

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: veux is \vø\ while voui is \vwi\. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46156, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

veux is recorded at frequency rank #206, classified as averb, pronounced \vø\. voui is at rank #45,950, tagged as anadv, pronounced \vwi\.

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 46156, this pair ranks #197,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of veux vs voui

Shared letters: uv. Private to "veux": ex. Private to "voui": io.

"veux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "voui" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • veuxevux · veuxx · vexu · vuex · vveux
  • vouiovui · voiu · vuoi · vvoui

Frequency comparison

veux#206
voui#45,950

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "veux" and "voui" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "veux" is a verb and "voui" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "veux" or "voui"?
"veux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #206 in our French list, against #45,950 for "voui". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering veux vs voui

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “veux”; for an adverb, it's “voui”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “veux” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list