viresvsvolesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,722
“vires” frequency rank
#36,652
“voles” frequency rank
80374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vires voles
Definition Pluriel de vire. Pluriel de vole.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vires and voles apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
vires
5 ch
voles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. vires (\viʁ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vires is recorded at frequency rank #43,722, classified as anoun, pronounced \viʁ\. 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 80374, this pair ranks #21,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vires vs voles

Shared letters: esv. Private to "vires": ir. Private to "voles": lo.

"vires" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "voles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viresviers · viress · virres · virse · vries
  • volesovles · vloes · voels · voless · volles · volse · vvoles

Frequency comparison

vires#43,722
voles#36,652

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vires" and "voles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\viʁ\ versus \vɔl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vires" or "voles"?
"voles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,652 in our French list, against #43,722 for "vires". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vires vs voles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vires” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list