Which to use
“valais” is a verb and “valise” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,707
- “valais” frequency rank
- #6,907
- “valise” frequency rank
- 26614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | valais | valise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de valoir. | Petite malle de voyage, qu’on porte à la main. |
Where the eye mixes valais and valise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. valais (CVCVVC) and valise (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between valais and valise
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: valais is \va.lɛ\ while valise is \va.liz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
valais is recorded at frequency rank #19,707, classified as averb, pronounced \va.lɛ\. valise is at rank #6,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced \va.liz\.
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 26614, this pair ranks #333,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of valais vs valise
Shared letters: ailsv. Private to "valais": -. Private to "valise": e.
"valais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "valise" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "valais" and "valise" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "valais" vs "valise" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "valais" and "valise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "valais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "valise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #333,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "valais" and "valise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valais vs Varois". 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 #333,887 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.