valet
/ˈvæleɪ/
"valet" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“valet” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,427 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #23,427
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A man's personal male attendant, responsible for his clothes and appearance.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | valet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈvæleɪ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #23,427 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “valet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for valet is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvæleɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,427 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for valet, with forms such as "avlet", "vaelt", and "valett". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vet", "vat", "vast", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wast… The correct English form is valet, spelled V-A-L-E-T.
Definition
- 1A man's personal male attendant, responsible for his clothes and appearance.
- 2A hotel employee performing such duties for guests.
- 3A female performer in professional wrestling, acting as either a manager or personal chaperone; often used to attract and titillate male members of the audience.
- 4A female chaperone who accompanies a man, and is usually not married to him.
- 5A person employed to clean or park cars.
- 6A person employed to assist the jockey and trainer at a racecourse.
- 7A wooden stand on which to hold clothes and accessories in preparation for dressing.
- 8A kind of goad or stick with an iron point.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: avlet,vaelt,valett,vallet,valte,vlaet,vvalet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of valet - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “valet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-A-L-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvæleɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vet” - see the side-by-side comparison. valet vs vet
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.