Which to use
“voles” and “volte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,652
- “voles” frequency rank
- #27,292
- “volte” frequency rank
- 63944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voles | volte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de vole. | Danse à trois temps d’origine provençale. |
Where the eye mixes voles and volte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. voles (CVCVC) and volte (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between voles and volte
A purely visual mix-up. voles (\vɔl\) and volte (\vɔlt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63944, 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\. volte is at rank #27,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔlt\.
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 63944, this pair ranks #79,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of voles vs volte
Shared letters: elov. Private to "voles": s. Private to "volte": t.
"voles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "volte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "voles" for "volte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "voles" or "volte"?
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 "voles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "volte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #79,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "voles" and "volte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voles vs Voss". 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 #79,413 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.