Which to use
“vais” and “vas” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #219
- “vais” frequency rank
- #593
- “vas” frequency rank
- 812
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vais | vas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de aller. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de aller. |
Where the eye mixes vais and vas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses vais with vas
A purely visual mix-up. vais (\vɛ\) and vas (\va\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vais is recorded at frequency rank #219, classified as averb, pronounced \vɛ\. vas is at rank #593, tagged as averb, pronounced \va\.
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 812, this pair ranks #439,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vais vs vas
Shared letters: asv. Private to "vais": i. Private to "vas": -.
"vais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "vas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vais ← vaiss · vasi · vias · vvais
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "vais" and "vas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "vais" vs "vas" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "vais" and "vas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vais" and "vas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vas 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 #439,078 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.