va vs vai, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“va” and “vai” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#98
“va” frequency rank: #39,008
“vai” frequency rank: 39106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	va	vai
Definition	Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de ir.	Tercera persona del singular (el, ela, vostede) del presente de indicativo de ir.

Where the eye mixes va and vai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

vai

Why the eye confuses va with vai

A purely visual mix-up. va ([ˈba]) and vai ([ˈba̠j]) 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 extra letter(s) - “va” sits inside “vai”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

va is recorded at frequency rank #98, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈba]. vai is at rank #39,008, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈba̠j].

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 39106, this pair ranks #166,363 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of va vs vai

Shared letters: av. Private to "va": -. Private to "vai": i.

"va" · 2 letters · shape CV · "vai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "va" for "vai" ever safe?

No. They are said differently ([ˈba] versus [ˈba̠j]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "va" or "vai"?

"va" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #98 in our Spanish list, against #39,008 for "vai". 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 "va" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "vai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #166,363 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"va" and "vai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vai vs VOR". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #166,363 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.