Which to use
“vae” is a noun and “valez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,084
- “vae” frequency rank
- #36,199
- “valez” frequency rank
- 75283
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vae | valez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fruit. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de valoir. |
Where the eye mixes vae and valez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vae runs 3 letters (CVV) against valez's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between vae and valez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vae is \βae\ while valez is \va.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vae is recorded at frequency rank #39,084, classified as anoun, pronounced \βae\. valez is at rank #36,199, tagged as averb, pronounced \va.le\.
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 75283, this pair ranks #34,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of vae vs valez
Shared letters: aev. Private to "vae": -. Private to "valez": lz.
"vae" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "valez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- valez ← avlez · vaelz · valezz · vallez · valze · vlaez · vvalez
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vae" and "valez" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "vae" vs "valez" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "valez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vae" and "valez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vae vs vlan". 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 #34,561 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.