valióvsvanoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: valió is a verb, vano is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“valió” is a verb and “vano” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,734
“valió” frequency rank
#7,502
“vano” frequency rank
16236
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valió vano
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de valer o de valerse. Que no da fruto ni efecto alguno.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set valió and vano apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
valió
4 ch
vano

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: valió is [baˈljo] while vano is [ˈbano]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16236, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valió is recorded at frequency rank #8,734, classified as averb, pronounced [baˈljo]. vano is at rank #7,502, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbano].

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 16236, this pair ranks #276,981 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of valió vs vano

Shared letters: av. Private to "valió": iló. Private to "vano": no.

"valió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vanoavno · bano · vanno · vaon · vnao · vvano

Frequency comparison

valió#8,734
vano#7,502

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "valió" and "vano" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "valió" is a verb and "vano" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "valió" or "vano"?
"vano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,502 in our Spanish list, against #8,734 for "valió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering valió vs vano

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “valió”; for an adjective, it's “vano”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “valió” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list