Which to use
“viole” and “violeur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,489
- “viole” frequency rank
- #13,937
- “violeur” frequency rank
- 27426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | viole | violeur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument de musique à six ou sept cordes, dont on joue avec un archet. | Quelqu’un, généralement un homme, qui commet un viol. |
Where the eye mixes viole and violeur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. viole runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against violeur's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses viole with violeur
A purely visual mix-up. viole (\vjɔl\) and violeur (\vjɔ.lœʁ\) 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) - “viole” sits inside “violeur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
viole is recorded at frequency rank #13,489, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɔl\. violeur is at rank #13,937, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.lœʁ\.
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 27426, this pair ranks #329,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of viole vs violeur
Shared letters: eilov. Private to "viole": -. Private to "violeur": ru.
"viole" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "violeur" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "viole" and "violeur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "viole" or "violeur"?
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 "viole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "violeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #329,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "viole" and "violeur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vial vs viole". 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 #329,037 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.