Which to use
“voile” and “voilure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,653
- “voile” frequency rank
- #30,859
- “voilure” frequency rank
- 33512
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voile | voilure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Large pièce de tissu assurant la propulsion des navires ou des moulins, par la force du vent. | Ensemble des voiles d’un navire. |
Where the eye mixes voile and voilure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. voile runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against voilure's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses voile with voilure
A purely visual mix-up. voile (\vwal\) and voilure (\vwa.lyʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
voile is recorded at frequency rank #2,653, classified as anoun, pronounced \vwal\. voilure is at rank #30,859, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vwa.lyʁ\.
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 33512, this pair ranks #290,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of voile vs voilure
Shared letters: eilov. Private to "voile": -. Private to "voilure": ru.
"voile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "voilure" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "voile" for "voilure" ever safe?
Which is more common, "voile" or "voilure"?
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 "voile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voilure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #290,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "voile" and "voilure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voiler vs voilure". 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 #290,150 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.