Which to use
“valence” and “violence” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,635
- “valence” frequency rank
- #1,463
- “violence” frequency rank
- 9098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | valence | violence |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nombre maximum de liaisons chimiques qu’un atome peut former avec un autre atome donné. | Impétuosité ; force non contenue. |
Where the eye mixes valence and violence
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. valence runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against violence's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses valence with violence
A purely visual mix-up. valence (\va.lɑ̃s\) and violence (\vjɔ.lɑ̃s\) 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 9098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
valence is recorded at frequency rank #7,635, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.lɑ̃s\. violence is at rank #1,463, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.lɑ̃s\.
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 9098, this pair ranks #417,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of valence vs violence
Shared letters: celnv. Private to "valence": a. Private to "violence": io.
"valence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "violence" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "valence" and "violence" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "valence" or "violence"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "valence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "violence" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "valence" and "violence" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valence vs varenne". 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 #417,801 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.