Which to use
“valais” and “venais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,707
- “valais” frequency rank
- #11,149
- “venais” frequency rank
- 30856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | valais | venais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de valoir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe venir. |
Where the eye mixes valais and venais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. valais and venais follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses valais with venais
A purely visual mix-up. valais (\va.lɛ\) and venais (\və.nɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30856, 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\. venais is at rank #11,149, tagged as averb, pronounced \və.nɛ\.
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 30856, this pair ranks #307,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of valais vs venais
Shared letters: aisv. Private to "valais": l. Private to "venais": en.
"valais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "venais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "valais" and "venais" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "valais" vs "venais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "valais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "venais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "valais" and "venais" 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 #307,561 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.