volesvsvoltsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,652
“voles” frequency rank
#21,813
“volts” frequency rank
58465
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voles volts
Definition Pluriel de vole. Pluriel de volt.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
voles
5 ch
volts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. voles (\vɔl\) and volts (\vɔlt\) 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 a single letter - e in “voles” becomes t in “volts”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58465, 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\. volts is at rank #21,813, 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 58465, this pair ranks #108,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of voles vs volts

Shared letters: losv. Private to "voles": e. Private to "volts": t.

"voles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "volts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volesovles · vloes · voels · voless · volles · volse · vvoles
  • voltsovlts · vlots · vollts · volst · voltss · voltts · votls · vvolts

Frequency comparison

voles#36,652
volts#21,813

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voles" and "volts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vɔl\ versus \vɔlt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "voles" or "volts"?
"volts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,813 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 volts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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