Which to use
“volatile” is a noun and “volatils” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,852
- “volatile” frequency rank
- #38,099
- “volatils” frequency rank
- 63951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | volatile | volatils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Animal capable de voler. | Masculin pluriel de volatil. |
Same sound, different letters: volatile vs volatils
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. volatile (CVCVCVCV) and volatils (CVCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - volatile / volatils
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: volatile and volatils carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vɔ.la.til\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “volatile” becomes s in “volatils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
volatile is recorded at frequency rank #25,852, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɔ.la.til\. volatils is at rank #38,099, tagged as anadj, 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 63951, this pair ranks #79,384 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of volatile vs volatils
Shared letters: ailotv. Private to "volatile": e. Private to "volatils": s.
"volatile" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "volatils" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "volatile" and "volatils" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "volatile" or "volatils"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "volatile" / "volatils". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "volatile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "volatils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #79,384 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "volatile" and "volatils" 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 #79,384 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.