vosvsvoyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vos is a determiner, voy is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vos” is a determiner and “voy” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#207
“vos” frequency rank
#48,860
“voy” frequency rank
49067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vos voy
Definition Qui sont à vous, qui vous appartiennent. Deuxième personne du pluriel. Plusieurs possesseurs et plusieurs objets, ou un seul possesseur (forme de politesse) et plusieurs objets. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe irrégulier ir (« aller »).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vos and voy apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
vos
3 ch
voy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vos is \vo\ while voy is \ˈboj\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “vos” becomes y in “voy”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vos is recorded at frequency rank #207, classified as adet, pronounced \vo\. voy is at rank #48,860, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈboj\.

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 49067, this pair ranks #173,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vos vs voy

Shared letters: ov. Private to "vos": s. Private to "voy": y.

"vos" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "voy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

vos#207
voy#48,860

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vos" and "voy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vos" is a determiner and "voy" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vos" or "voy"?
"vos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #207 in our French list, against #48,860 for "voy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vos vs voy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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