Which to use
“vielle” and “voyelle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,035
- “vielle” frequency rank
- #20,316
- “voyelle” frequency rank
- 37351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vielle | voyelle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument de musique à cordes, dont on joue par le moyen de touches et d’une roue qu’on tourne avec une manivelle, qui permet de faire sonner les cordes mélodiques et bourdon, et, par accélérations rapides, de faire vibrer la corde trompette et le chien pour donner un son caractéristique grésillant. | Son de la voix produit par la vibration du larynx modifiée par l’ouverture plus ou moins grande de la bouche. |
Where the eye mixes vielle and voyelle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vielle runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against voyelle's 7 (CVVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: vielle vs voyelle
A purely visual mix-up. vielle (\vjɛl\) and voyelle (\vwa.jɛl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vielle is recorded at frequency rank #17,035, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɛl\. voyelle is at rank #20,316, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vwa.jɛl\.
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 37351, this pair ranks #263,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vielle vs voyelle
Shared letters: elv. Private to "vielle": i. Private to "voyelle": oy.
"vielle" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "voyelle" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vielle" and "voyelle" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "vielle" vs "voyelle" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vielle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voyelle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #263,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vielle" and "voyelle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vielle vs vile". 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 #263,083 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.