Which to use
“volatil” is an adjective and “volatile” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,209
- “volatil” frequency rank
- #25,852
- “volatile” frequency rank
- 69061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | volatil | volatile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qualifie une matière, solide ou liquide, qui s’évapore facilement, susceptible de se résoudre en vapeur, en gaz. | Animal capable de voler. |
Same sound, different letters: volatil vs volatile
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. volatil runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against volatile's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - volatil / volatile
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: volatil and volatile carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vɔ.la.til\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “volatil” sits inside “volatile”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
volatil is recorded at frequency rank #43,209, classified as anadj, pronounced \vɔ.la.til\. volatile is at rank #25,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔ.la.til\.
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 69061, this pair ranks #56,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of volatil vs volatile
Shared letters: ailotv. Private to "volatil": -. Private to "volatile": e.
"volatil" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "volatile" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "volatil" and "volatile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "volatil" or "volatile" show up more?
Useful next steps
"volatil" and "volatile" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "volatil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "volatile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "volatil" and "volatile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "volatil vs volatils". 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 #56,630 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.