votonsvsvoyousWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,069
“votons” frequency rank
#14,823
“voyous” frequency rank
55892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature votons voyous
Definition Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de voter. Pluriel de voyou (épicène).

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
votons
6 ch
voyous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: votons is \vɔ.tɔ̃\ while voyous is \vwa.ju\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

votons is recorded at frequency rank #41,069, classified as averb, pronounced \vɔ.tɔ̃\. voyous is at rank #14,823, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vwa.ju\.

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 55892, this pair ranks #124,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of votons vs voyous

Shared letters: osv. Private to "votons": nt. Private to "voyous": uy.

"votons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "voyous" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • votonsovtons · vootns · votnos · votonns · votonss · votosn · vottons · vtoons
  • voyousovyous · vooyus · voyosu · voyouss · voyuos · voyyous · vvoyous · vyoous

Frequency comparison

votons#41,069
voyous#14,823

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "votons" and "voyous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "votons" is a verb and "voyous" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "votons" or "voyous"?
"voyous" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,823 in our French list, against #41,069 for "votons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering votons vs voyous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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