valetsvsvalléesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“valets” and “vallées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,064
“valets” frequency rank
#10,098
“vallées” frequency rank
43162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valets vallées
Definition Pluriel de valet. Pluriel de vallée.

Where the eye mixes valets and vallées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
valets
7 ch
vallées

Look-alike desk: valets vs vallées

A purely visual mix-up. valets (\va.lɛ\) and vallées (\va.le\) 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 43162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valets is recorded at frequency rank #33,064, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.lɛ\. vallées is at rank #10,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced \va.le\.

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 43162, this pair ranks #220,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of valets vs vallées

Shared letters: aelsv. Private to "valets": t. Private to "vallées": é.

"valets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "vallées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valetsavlets · vaelts · valest · valetss · valetts · vallets · valtes · vlaets

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "valets" and "vallées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\va.lɛ\ versus \va.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "valets" or "vallées"?
"vallées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,098 in our French list, against #33,064 for "valets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "valets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vallées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #220,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valets" and "vallées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valets vs voles". 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 #220,172 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list