voilevsvoltConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,653
“voile” frequency rank
#33,072
“volt” frequency rank
35725
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voile volt
Definition Large pièce de tissu assurant la propulsion des navires ou des moulins, par la force du vent. Unité de mesure de force électromotrice et de tension électrique du Système international, égale à la différence de potentiel entre deux points d’un conducteur transportant un courant d’un ampère quand la puissance dissipée entre ces deux points est d’un watt. Son symbole est V.

Where the eye mixes voile and volt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
voile
4 ch
volt

Why the eye confuses voile with volt

A purely visual mix-up. voile (\vwal\) and volt (\vɔlt\) 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 35725, 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\. volt is at rank #33,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔlt\.

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 35725, this pair ranks #274,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of voile vs volt

Shared letters: lov. Private to "voile": ei. Private to "volt": t.

"voile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "volt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voileovile · voiel · voille · volie · vvoile
  • voltovlt · vlot · vollt · voltt · votl · vvolt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voile" and "volt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vwal\ versus \vɔlt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "voile" vs "volt" - which ranks higher?
"voile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,653 in our French list, against #33,072 for "volt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "voile" and "volt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "voile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "volt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "voile" and "volt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "volt vs voy". 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 #274,694 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