voiléevsvoilerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: voilée is a adjective, voiler is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“voilée” is an adjective and “voiler” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,267
“voilée” frequency rank
#21,812
“voiler” frequency rank
38079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voilée voiler
Definition Féminin singulier de voilé. Couvrir d’un voile.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set voilée and voiler apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
voilée
6 ch
voiler

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: voilée and voiler carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vwa.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

voilée is recorded at frequency rank #16,267, classified as anadj, pronounced \vwa.le\. voiler is at rank #21,812, tagged as averb, pronounced \vwa.le\.

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 38079, this pair ranks #257,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of voilée vs voiler

Shared letters: eilov. Private to "voilée": é. Private to "voiler": r.

"voilée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "voiler" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voileroviler · voielr · voilerr · voiller · voilre · volier · vvoiler

Frequency comparison

voilée#16,267
voiler#21,812

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voilée" and "voiler" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "voilée" is an adjective and "voiler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "voilée" or "voiler"?
"voilée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,267 in our French list, against #21,812 for "voiler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering voilée vs voiler

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “voilée”; for a verb, it's “voiler”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “voilée” 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