vaillevsveilléeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vaille is a verb, veillée is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vaille” is a verb and “veillée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,883
“vaille” frequency rank
#22,132
“veillée” frequency rank
43015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vaille veillée
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de valoir. Temps pendant lequel on veille, soirée.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vaille and veillée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
vaille
7 ch
veillée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vaille is \vaj\ while veillée is \ve.je\. 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 43015, 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\. veillée is at rank #22,132, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ve.je\.

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 43015, this pair ranks #221,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vaille vs veillée

Shared letters: eilv. Private to "vaille": a. Private to "veillée": é.

"vaille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "veillée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vailleaville · vaile · vailel · valile · vialle · vvaille

Frequency comparison

vaille#20,883
veillée#22,132

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vaille" and "veillée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vaille" is a verb and "veillée" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vaille" or "veillée"?
"vaille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,883 in our French list, against #22,132 for "veillée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vaille vs veillée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “vaille”; for a noun, it's “veillée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vaille” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list