Which to use
“viole” and “voles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,489
- “viole” frequency rank
- #36,652
- “voles” frequency rank
- 50141
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | viole | voles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument de musique à six ou sept cordes, dont on joue avec un archet. | Pluriel de vole. |
Where the eye mixes viole and voles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. viole (CVVCV) and voles (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses viole with voles
A purely visual mix-up. viole (\vjɔl\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50141, 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\. 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 50141, this pair ranks #164,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of viole vs voles
Shared letters: elov. Private to "viole": i. Private to "voles": s.
"viole" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "voles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "viole" and "voles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "viole" vs "voles" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "viole" 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 #164,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "viole" 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 #164,976 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.