volesvsvoltaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#36,652
“voles” frequency rank
#32,236
“volta” frequency rank
68888
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voles volta
Definition Pluriel de vole. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de volter.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set voles and volta apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
voles
5 ch
volta

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: voles is \vɔl\ while volta is \vɔl.ta\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

voles is recorded at frequency rank #36,652, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɔl\. volta is at rank #32,236, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɔl.ta\.

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 68888, this pair ranks #57,321 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of voles vs volta

Shared letters: lov. Private to "voles": es. Private to "volta": at.

"voles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "volta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volesovles · vloes · voels · voless · volles · volse · vvoles
  • voltaovlta · vlota · volat · vollta · voltta · votla · vvolta

Frequency comparison

voles#36,652
volta#32,236

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voles" and "volta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "voles" is a noun and "volta" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "voles" or "volta"?
"volta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,236 in our French list, against #36,652 for "voles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering voles vs volta

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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