Which to use
“voile” is a noun and “vola” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,653
- “voile” frequency rank
- #45,375
- “vola” frequency rank
- 48028
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voile | vola |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Large pièce de tissu assurant la propulsion des navires ou des moulins, par la force du vent. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe voler. |
Where the eye mixes voile and vola
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. voile runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against vola's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses voile with vola
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: voile is \vwal\ while vola is \vɔ.la\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48028, 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\. vola is at rank #45,375, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɔ.la\.
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 48028, this pair ranks #182,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of voile vs vola
Shared letters: lov. Private to "voile": ei. Private to "vola": a.
"voile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "vola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "voile" and "vola" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "voile" or "vola"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "voile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "voile" and "vola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vlan vs vola". 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 #182,210 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.