voléevsvolerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: volée is a noun, voler is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“volée” is a noun and “voler” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,055
“volée” frequency rank
#3,115
“voler” frequency rank
11170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature volée voler
Definition Action de voler, vol, envol, en parlant des oiseaux et de certains animaux comme les insectes. Se maintenir dans les airs en battant des ailes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set volée and voler apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
volée
5 ch
voler

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: volée and voler carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vɔ.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

volée is recorded at frequency rank #8,055, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɔ.le\. 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 11170, this pair ranks #410,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of volée vs voler

Shared letters: elov. Private to "volée": é. Private to "voler": r.

"volée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "voler" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volerovler · vloer · voelr · volerr · voller · volre · vvoler

Frequency comparison

volée#8,055
voler#3,115

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "volée" and "voler" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "volée" is a noun and "voler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "volée" or "voler"?
"voler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,115 in our French list, against #8,055 for "volée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering volée vs voler

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “volée”; for a verb, it's “voler”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “volée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list