vicesvsvolesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,506
“vices” frequency rank
#36,652
“voles” frequency rank
53158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vices voles
Definition Pluriel de vice. Pluriel de vole.

Where the eye mixes vices and voles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
vices
5 ch
voles

Visual trap between vices and voles

A purely visual mix-up. vices (\visəz\) and voles (\vɔl\) 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 53158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vices is recorded at frequency rank #16,506, classified as anoun, pronounced \visəz\. voles is at rank #36,652, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔl\.

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 53158, this pair ranks #142,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vices vs voles

Shared letters: esv. Private to "vices": ci. Private to "voles": lo.

"vices" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "voles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vicesivces · vcies · vicces · vicess · vicse · viecs · vvices
  • volesovles · vloes · voels · voless · volles · volse · vvoles

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vices" and "voles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\visəz\ versus \vɔl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vices" or "voles"?
"vices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,506 in our French list, against #36,652 for "voles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vices" and "voles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voles vs Voss". 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 #142,659 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