voiléevsvolerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#16,267
“voilée” frequency rank
#3,115
“voler” frequency rank
19382
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voilée voler
Definition Féminin singulier de voilé. Se maintenir dans les airs en battant des ailes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set voilée and voler apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
voilée
5 ch
voler

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: voilée is \vwa.le\ while voler is \vɔ.le\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19382, 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\. voler is at rank #3,115, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɔ.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 19382, this pair ranks #373,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of voilée vs voler

Shared letters: elov. Private to "voilée": . Private to "voler": r.

"voilée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "voler" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volerovler · vloer · voelr · volerr · voller · volre · vvoler

Frequency comparison

voilée#16,267
voler#3,115

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voilée" and "voler" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "voilée" is an adjective and "voler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "voilée" or "voler"?
"voler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,115 in our French list, against #16,267 for "voilée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering voilée vs voler

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 “voler”.
  • 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