violeurvsvoyeurConfusable pair

Which to use

“violeur” and “voyeur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,937
“violeur” frequency rank
#25,168
“voyeur” frequency rank
39105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature violeur voyeur
Definition Quelqu’un, généralement un homme, qui commet un viol. Celui qui aime regarder les gens, observer les choses sans intervenir.

Where the eye mixes violeur and voyeur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
violeur
6 ch
voyeur

Why the eye confuses violeur with voyeur

A purely visual mix-up. violeur (\vjɔ.lœʁ\) and voyeur (\vwa.jœʁ\) 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 39105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

violeur is recorded at frequency rank #13,937, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.lœʁ\. voyeur is at rank #25,168, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vwa.jœʁ\.

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 39105, this pair ranks #250,474 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of violeur vs voyeur

Shared letters: eoruv. Private to "violeur": il. Private to "voyeur": y.

"violeur" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "voyeur" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • violeurivoleur · viloeur · vioelur · violeru · violeurr · violleur · violuer · voileur
  • voyeurovyeur · voeyur · voyeru · voyeurr · voyuer · voyyeur · vvoyeur · vyoeur

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "violeur" and "voyeur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\vjɔ.lœʁ\ versus \vwa.jœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "violeur" or "voyeur" show up more?
"violeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,937 in our French list, against #25,168 for "voyeur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "violeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voyeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,474 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "violeur" and "voyeur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vouer vs voyeur". 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 #250,474 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list