Which to use
“voyeur” and “voyous” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,168
- “voyeur” frequency rank
- #14,823
- “voyous” frequency rank
- 39991
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voyeur | voyous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui aime regarder les gens, observer les choses sans intervenir. | Pluriel de voyou (épicène). |
Where the eye mixes voyeur and voyous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. voyeur and voyous follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between voyeur and voyous
A purely visual mix-up. voyeur (\vwa.jœʁ\) and voyous (\vwa.ju\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
voyeur is recorded at frequency rank #25,168, classified as anoun, pronounced \vwa.jœʁ\. 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 39991, this pair ranks #243,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of voyeur vs voyous
Shared letters: ouvy. Private to "voyeur": er. Private to "voyous": s.
"voyeur" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "voyous" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "voyeur" for "voyous" ever safe?
Which is more common, "voyeur" or "voyous"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "voyeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voyous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "voyeur" and "voyous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vouer vs voyeur". 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 #243,833 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.