valeursvsvoleurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,127
“valeurs” frequency rank
#7,770
“voleur” frequency rank
8897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valeurs voleur
Definition Pluriel de valeur. Homme qui effectue un vol, qui dérobe, s’approprie le bien d’autrui, ou l’a déjà fait.

Where the eye mixes valeurs and voleur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. valeurs runs 7 letters (CVCVVCC) against voleur's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
valeurs
6 ch
voleur

Visual trap between valeurs and voleur

A purely visual mix-up. valeurs (\va.lœʁ\) and voleur (\vɔ.lœʁ\) 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 8897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valeurs is recorded at frequency rank #1,127, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.lœʁ\. voleur is at rank #7,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɔ.lœʁ\.

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 8897, this pair ranks #418,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of valeurs vs voleur

Shared letters: elruv. Private to "valeurs": as. Private to "voleur": o.

"valeurs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "voleur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valeursavleurs · vaelurs · valerus · valeurrs · valeurss · valeusr · valleurs · valuers
  • voleurovleur · vloeur · voelur · voleru · voleurr · volleur · voluer · vvoleur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "valeurs" for "voleur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\va.lœʁ\ versus \vɔ.lœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "valeurs" vs "voleur" - which ranks higher?
"valeurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,127 in our French list, against #7,770 for "voleur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "valeurs" and "voleur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "valeurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voleur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #418,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valeurs" and "voleur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voleur vs vouer". 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 #418,500 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