voltvsvotaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#33,072
“volt” frequency rank
#43,211
“vota” frequency rank
76283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature volt vota
Definition Unité de mesure de force électromotrice et de tension électrique du Système international, égale à la différence de potentiel entre deux points d’un conducteur transportant un courant d’un ampère quand la puissance dissipée entre ces deux points est d’un watt. Son symbole est V. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de voter.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
volt
4 ch
vota

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: volt is \vɔlt\ while vota is \vɔ.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 76283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

volt is recorded at frequency rank #33,072, classified as anoun, pronounced \vɔlt\. vota is at rank #43,211, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɔ.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 76283, this pair ranks #31,570 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of volt vs vota

Shared letters: otv. Private to "volt": l. Private to "vota": a.

"volt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "vota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voltovlt · vlot · vollt · voltt · votl · vvolt
  • votaovta · voat · votta · vtoa · vvota

Frequency comparison

volt#33,072
vota#43,211

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "volt" and "vota" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "volt" is a noun and "vota" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "volt" or "vota"?
"volt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,072 in our French list, against #43,211 for "vota". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering volt vs vota

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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