valourvsvalueConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,644
“valour” frequency rank
#745
“value” frequency rank
33389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valour value
Definition Individually sustained verve or passion. The quality that renders something desirable or valuable; worth.

Where the eye mixes valour and value

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
valour
5 ch
value

Why the eye confuses valour with value

A purely visual mix-up. valour (/ˈvælə/) and value (/ˈvæl.juː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valour is recorded at frequency rank #32,644, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvælə/. value is at rank #745, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvæl.juː/.

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 33389, this pair ranks #329,852 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of valour vs value

Shared letters: aluv. Private to "valour": or. Private to "value": e.

"valour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "value" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valouravlour · vallour · valoru · valourr · valuor · vaolur · vlaour · vvalour
  • valueavlue · valeu · vallue · vaule · vlaue · vvalue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "valour" for "value" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvælə/ versus /ˈvæl.juː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "valour" or "value" show up more?
"value" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #745 in our English list, against #32,644 for "valour". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "valour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "value" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #329,852 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valour" and "value" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valour vs vigour". 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 #329,852 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