Which to use
“vola” and “voler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,375
- “vola” frequency rank
- #3,115
- “voler” frequency rank
- 48490
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vola | voler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe voler. | Se maintenir dans les airs en battant des ailes. |
Where the eye mixes vola and voler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vola runs 4 letters (CVCV) against voler's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vola with voler
A purely visual mix-up. vola (\vɔ.la\) and voler (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48490, 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\. 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 48490, this pair ranks #178,480 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vola vs voler
Shared letters: lov. Private to "vola": a. Private to "voler": er.
"vola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "voler" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vola" and "voler" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "vola" or "voler"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vola" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #178,480 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vola" and "voler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vlan vs vola". 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 #178,480 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.