Which to use
“vacant” is an adjective and “valait” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,598
- “vacant” frequency rank
- #7,386
- “valait” frequency rank
- 27984
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vacant | valait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas occupé ou qui est à remplir, en parlant des maisons, lieux et places qui ne sont pas occupés. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de valoir. |
Where the eye mixes vacant and valait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vacant (CVCVCC) and valait (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses vacant with valait
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacant is \va.kɑ̃\ while valait is \va.lɛ\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vacant is recorded at frequency rank #20,598, classified as anadj, pronounced \va.kɑ̃\. valait is at rank #7,386, tagged as averb, pronounced \va.lɛ\.
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 27984, this pair ranks #325,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vacant vs valait
Shared letters: atv. Private to "vacant": cn. Private to "valait": il.
"vacant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "valait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vacant" and "valait" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "vacant" or "valait" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vacant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "valait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vacant" and "valait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacant vs vacante". 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 #325,589 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.