Which to use
“vaillant” is an adjective and “veillent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,261
- “vaillant” frequency rank
- #26,572
- “veillent” frequency rank
- 42833
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vaillant | veillent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a de la vaillance, qui est courageux. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de veiller. |
Where the eye mixes vaillant and veillent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vaillant and veillent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses vaillant with veillent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vaillant is \va.jɑ̃\ while veillent is \vɛj\. 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 42833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vaillant is recorded at frequency rank #16,261, classified as anadj, pronounced \va.jɑ̃\. veillent is at rank #26,572, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɛj\.
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 42833, this pair ranks #222,606 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vaillant vs veillent
Shared letters: ilntv. Private to "vaillant": a. Private to "veillent": e.
"vaillant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "veillent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vaillant" for "veillent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vaillant" vs "veillent" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vaillant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "veillent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #222,606 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vaillant" and "veillent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "veillait vs veillent". 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 #222,606 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.