volavsvoléWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,375
“vola” frequency rank
#4,632
“volé” frequency rank
50007
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vola volé
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe voler. Participe passé masculin singulier de voler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vola and volé apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
vola
4 ch
volé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. vola (\vɔ.la\) and volé (\vɔ.le\) 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 a single letter - a in “vola” becomes é in “volé”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50007, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vola is recorded at frequency rank #45,375, classified as averb, pronounced \vɔ.la\. volé is at rank #4,632, 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 50007, this pair ranks #166,034 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vola vs volé

Shared letters: lov. Private to "vola": a. Private to "volé": é.

"vola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "volé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volaovla · vloa · voal · volla · vvola

Frequency comparison

vola#45,375
volé#4,632

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vola" and "volé" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vɔ.la\ versus \vɔ.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vola" or "volé"?
"volé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,632 in our French list, against #45,375 for "vola". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vola vs volé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vola” 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