volévsvoyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,632
“volé” frequency rank
#48,860
“voy” frequency rank
53492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature volé voy
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de voler. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe irrégulier ir (« aller »).

Where the eye mixes volé and voy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. volé runs 4 letters (CVCV) against voy's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
volé
3 ch
voy

Visual trap between volé and voy

A purely visual mix-up. volé (\vɔ.le\) and voy (\ˈboj\) 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 53492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

volé is recorded at frequency rank #4,632, classified as averb, pronounced \vɔ.le\. voy is at rank #48,860, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈboj\.

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 53492, this pair ranks #140,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of volé vs voy

Shared letters: ov. Private to "volé": lé. Private to "voy": y.

"volé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "voy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "volé" for "voy" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\vɔ.le\ versus \ˈboj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "volé" or "voy"?
"volé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,632 in our French list, against #48,860 for "voy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "volé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "volé" and "voy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viv vs voy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #140,350 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list