valorvsvalsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#650
“valor” frequency rank
#22,539
“vals” frequency rank
23189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valor vals
Definition Medida de la importancia o utilidad de un ser, de una cosa, de una idea. Baile de pareja, de origen alemán, que se ejecuta con movimiento giratorio y de traslación, colocando el hombre su mano derecha en la cintura de la mujer y su izquierda en la mano derecha de ella.

Where the eye mixes valor and vals

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
valor
4 ch
vals

Why the eye confuses valor with vals

A purely visual mix-up. valor ([baˈloɾ]) and vals ([ˈbals]) 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 23189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valor is recorded at frequency rank #650, classified as anoun, pronounced [baˈloɾ]. vals is at rank #22,539, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbals].

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 23189, this pair ranks #246,957 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of valor vs vals

Shared letters: alv. Private to "valor": or. Private to "vals": s.

"valor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "vals" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valoravlor · balor · vallor · valorr · valro · vaolr · vlaor · vvalor
  • valsavls · valss · vasl · vvals

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "valor" and "vals" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([baˈloɾ] versus [ˈbals]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "valor" or "vals" show up more?
"valor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #650 in our Spanish list, against #22,539 for "vals". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "valor" and "vals" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "valor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vals" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #246,957 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valor" and "vals" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vals vs vel". 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 #246,957 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