vilsvsvoltsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vils is a adjective, volts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vils” is an adjective and “volts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,805
“vils” frequency rank
#21,813
“volts” frequency rank
66618
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vils volts
Definition Masculin pluriel de vil. Pluriel de volt.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vils and volts apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
vils
5 ch
volts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vils is \vil\ while volts is \vɔlt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vils is recorded at frequency rank #44,805, classified as anadj, pronounced \vil\. volts is at rank #21,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔlt\.

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 66618, this pair ranks #67,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vils vs volts

Shared letters: lsv. Private to "vils": i. Private to "volts": ot.

"vils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "volts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vilsivls · vills · vilss · visl · vlis · vvils
  • voltsovlts · vlots · vollts · volst · voltss · voltts · votls · vvolts

Frequency comparison

vils#44,805
volts#21,813

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vils" and "volts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vils" is an adjective and "volts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vils" or "volts"?
"volts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,813 in our French list, against #44,805 for "vils". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vils vs volts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “vils”; for a noun, it's “volts”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vils” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list