valuevsvoleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#745
“value” frequency rank
#45,158
“vole” frequency rank
45903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature value vole
Definition The quality that renders something desirable or valuable; worth. Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini.

Where the eye mixes value and vole

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

5 ch
value
4 ch
vole

Visual trap between value and vole

A purely visual mix-up. value (/ˈvæl.juː/) and vole (/vəʊl/) 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 45903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

value is recorded at frequency rank #745, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvæl.juː/. 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 45903, this pair ranks #216,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of value vs vole

Shared letters: elv. Private to "value": au. Private to "vole": o.

"value" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valueavlue · valeu · vallue · vaule · vlaue · vvalue
  • voleovle · vloe · voel · volle · vvole

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "value" and "vole" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvæl.juː/ versus /vəʊl/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "value" or "vole"?
"value" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #745 in our English list, against #45,158 for "vole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "value" 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 #216,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "value" 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 #216,825 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