volentvsvolontéWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,882
“volent” frequency rank
#1,193
“volonté” frequency rank
13075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature volent volonté
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de voler. Faculté de vouloir, de se déterminer à quelque chose ; en particulier, cette faculté même en tant qu’elle est plus ou moins agissante.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set volent and volonté apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
volent
7 ch
volonté

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: volent is \vɔl\ while volonté is \vɔ.lɔ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

volent is recorded at frequency rank #11,882, classified as averb, pronounced \vɔl\. volonté is at rank #1,193, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔ.lɔ̃.te\.

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 13075, this pair ranks #402,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of volent vs volonté

Shared letters: lnotv. Private to "volent": e. Private to "volonté": é.

"volent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "volonté" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volentovlent · vloent · voelnt · volennt · volentt · voletn · vollent · volnet

Frequency comparison

volent#11,882
volonté#1,193

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "volent" and "volonté" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "volent" is a verb and "volonté" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "volent" or "volonté"?
"volonté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,193 in our French list, against #11,882 for "volent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering volent vs volonté

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “volent”; for a noun, it's “volonté”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “volent” 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