Which to use
“viol” and “violon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,030
- “viol” frequency rank
- #9,766
- “violon” frequency rank
- 13796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | viol | violon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Violence que l’on fait à une personne sans consentement, par la force ou la ruse, consistant en une pénétration sexuelle, vaginale, anale ou orale. | Luth à manche court dont la touche lisse est dépourvue de frettes, muni de quatre cordes que l’on frotte avec un archet. |
Where the eye mixes viol and violon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: viol vs violon
A purely visual mix-up. viol (\vjɔl\) and violon (\vjɔ.lɔ̃\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “viol” sits inside “violon”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
viol is recorded at frequency rank #4,030, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɔl\. violon is at rank #9,766, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.lɔ̃\.
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 13796, this pair ranks #399,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of viol vs violon
Shared letters: ilov. Private to "viol": -. Private to "violon": n.
"viol" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "violon" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "viol" for "violon" ever safe?
Frequency check: "viol" vs "violon" - which ranks higher?
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 "viol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "violon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "viol" and "violon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viol vs viv". 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 #399,502 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.