Which to use
“valais” and “voulais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,707
- “valais” frequency rank
- #1,216
- “voulais” frequency rank
- 20923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | valais | voulais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de valoir. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de vouloir. |
Where the eye mixes valais and voulais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. valais runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against voulais's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between valais and voulais
A purely visual mix-up. valais (\va.lɛ\) and voulais (\vu.lɛ\) 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 20923, 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\. voulais is at rank #1,216, tagged as averb, pronounced \vu.lɛ\.
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 20923, this pair ranks #365,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of valais vs voulais
Shared letters: ailsv. Private to "valais": -. Private to "voulais": ou.
"valais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "voulais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "valais" for "voulais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "valais" vs "voulais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "valais" and "voulais" 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 "voulais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #365,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "valais" and "voulais" 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 #365,792 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.