vaisvsvaleConfusable pair

Quick tell: vais is a verb, vale is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vais” is a verb and “vale” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,934
“vais” frequency rank
#638
“vale” frequency rank
8572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vais vale
Definition Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del presente de indicativo de ir o de irse. Documento de pago o sustitución de algo.

Where the eye mixes vais and vale

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

4 ch
vais
4 ch
vale

Look-alike desk: vais vs vale

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vais is [ˈbajs] while vale is [ˈbale]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vais is recorded at frequency rank #7,934, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbajs]. vale is at rank #638, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbale].

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 8572, this pair ranks #304,604 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vais vs vale

Shared letters: av. Private to "vais": is. Private to "vale": el.

"vais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vaisbais · vaiss · vasi · vvais
  • valeavle · bale · vael · vlae · vvale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vais" and "vale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vais" is a verb and "vale" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vais" or "vale"?
"vale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #638 in our Spanish list, against #7,934 for "vais". 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 "vais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,604 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vais" and "vale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vais vs viso". 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 #304,604 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list