Which to use
“valve” and “vole” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,848
- “valve” frequency rank
- #45,158
- “vole” frequency rank
- 51006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | valve | vole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A device that controls the flow of a gas or fluid through a space, such as a pipe, manifold, or plenum. | Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini. |
Where the eye mixes valve and vole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. valve runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against vole's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between valve and vole
A purely visual mix-up. valve (/ˈvælv/) 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 51006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
valve is recorded at frequency rank #5,848, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvælv/. 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 51006, this pair ranks #169,200 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of valve vs vole
Shared letters: elv. Private to "valve": a. Private to "vole": o.
"valve" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "vole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "valve" for "vole" ever safe?
Which is more common, "valve" or "vole"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "valve" and "vole" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "valve" 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 #169,200 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "valve" 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 #169,200 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.