Which to use
“voulu” is a verb and “voulus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #930
- “voulu” frequency rank
- #32,237
- “voulus” frequency rank
- 33167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voulu | voulus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe vouloir. | Masculin pluriel de voulu. |
Same sound, different letters: voulu vs voulus
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. voulu runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against voulus's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: voulu vs voulus
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: voulu and voulus carry the same recorded pronunciation, \vu.ly\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “voulu” sits inside “voulus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
voulu is recorded at frequency rank #930, classified as averb, pronounced \vu.ly\. voulus is at rank #32,237, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vu.ly\.
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 33167, this pair ranks #292,429 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of voulu vs voulus
Shared letters: louv. Private to "voulu": -. Private to "voulus": s.
"voulu" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "voulus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "voulu" and "voulus" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "voulu" or "voulus"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "voulu" / "voulus". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "voulu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voulus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #292,429 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "voulu" and "voulus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vouées vs voulus". 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 #292,429 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.