volavsvolerWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

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

4 ch
vola
5 ch
voler

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • volaovla · vloa · voal · volla · vvola
  • volerovler · vloer · voelr · volerr · voller · volre · vvoler

Frequency comparison

vola#45,375
voler#3,115

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vola" and "voler" 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 "voler"?
"voler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,115 in our French list, against #45,375 for "vola". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vola vs voler

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