Which to use
“vaille” is a verb and “variole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,883
- “vaille” frequency rank
- #26,918
- “variole” frequency rank
- 47801
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vaille | variole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de valoir. | Maladie générale, infectieuse et contagieuse, des humains et des animaux, caractérisée par une éruption de boutons pustuleux, qui laissent ordinairement de petits creux dans la peau après la guérison. |
Where the eye mixes vaille and variole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vaille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against variole's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vaille with variole
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vaille is \vaj\ while variole is \va.ʁjɔl\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vaille is recorded at frequency rank #20,883, classified as averb, pronounced \vaj\. variole is at rank #26,918, tagged as anoun, pronounced \va.ʁjɔl\.
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 47801, this pair ranks #184,040 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vaille vs variole
Shared letters: aeilv. Private to "vaille": -. Private to "variole": or.
"vaille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "variole" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vaille" for "variole" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vaille" vs "variole" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "vaille" and "variole" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vaille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "variole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,040 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vaille" and "variole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "variole vs various". 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 #184,040 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.