valvsvoleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“val” and “vole” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,148
“val” frequency rank
#45,158
“vole” frequency rank
56306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature val vole
Definition Valium. Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini.

Letter map: val vs vole

Shared letters muted; letters that set val and vole apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
val
4 ch
vole

Pair insight - val / vole

val and vole are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

val is recorded at frequency rank #11,148, classified as anoun. vole is at rank #45,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vəʊl/.

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 56306, this pair ranks #127,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of val vs vole

Shared letters: lv. Private to "val": a. Private to "vole": eo.

"val" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voleovle · vloe · voel · volle · vvole

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "val" and "vole" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "val" vs "vole" - which ranks higher?
"val" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,148 in our English list, against #45,158 for "vole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "val" and "vole".

  • Full dictionary entry for "val" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #127,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "val" and "vole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vel vs vole". 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 #127,229 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list