vansvsvasTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,095
“vans” frequency rank
#47,809
“vas” frequency rank
86904
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vans vas
Definition Plural des Substantivs van 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs aller

Where the eye mixes vans and vas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vans
3 ch
vas

Look-alike desk: vans vs vas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vans is [væns] while vas is [va]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vans is recorded at frequency rank #39,095, classified as anoun, pronounced [væns]. vas is at rank #47,809, tagged as averb, pronounced [va].

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 86904, this pair ranks #87,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vans vs vas

Shared letters: asv. Private to "vans": n. Private to "vas": -.

"vans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "vas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vansavns · vanns · vanss · vasn · vnas · vvans

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vans" and "vas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vans" is a noun and "vas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vans" vs "vas" - which ranks higher?
"vans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,095 in our German list, against #47,809 for "vas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vans" and "vas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vans" and "vas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vas vs VN". 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 #87,391 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list