Which to use
“violon” and “viols” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,766
- “violon” frequency rank
- #11,324
- “viols” frequency rank
- 21090
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | violon | viols |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Luth à manche court dont la touche lisse est dépourvue de frettes, muni de quatre cordes que l’on frotte avec un archet. | Pluriel de viol. |
Where the eye mixes violon and viols
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between violon and viols
A purely visual mix-up. violon (\vjɔ.lɔ̃\) and viols (\vjɔl\) 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 21090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
violon is recorded at frequency rank #9,766, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.lɔ̃\. viols is at rank #11,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔl\.
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 21090, this pair ranks #364,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of violon vs viols
Shared letters: ilov. Private to "violon": n. Private to "viols": s.
"violon" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "viols" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "violon" and "viols" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "violon" or "viols"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "violon" and "viols" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "violon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "viols" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "violon" and "viols" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vial vs viols". 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 #364,915 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.