voixvsvolsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#499
“voix” frequency rank
#4,539
“vols” frequency rank
5038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voix vols
Definition Ensemble de sons produits par les cordes vocales. Pluriel de vol (déplacement dans l’air).

Where the eye mixes voix and vols

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
voix
4 ch
vols

Visual trap between voix and vols

A purely visual mix-up. voix (\vwa\) and vols (\vɔl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

voix is recorded at frequency rank #499, classified as anoun, pronounced \vwa\. vols is at rank #4,539, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔl\.

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 5038, this pair ranks #430,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of voix vs vols

Shared letters: ov. Private to "voix": ix. Private to "vols": ls.

"voix" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vols" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voixovix · viox · voixx · voxi · vvoix
  • volsovls · vlos · volls · volss · vosl · vvols

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "voix" for "vols" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vwa\ versus \vɔl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "voix" vs "vols" - which ranks higher?
"voix" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #499 in our French list, against #4,539 for "vols". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "voix" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vols" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "voix" and "vols" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vols 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 #430,069 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