Which to use
“valle” and “voile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,200
- “valle” frequency rank
- #2,653
- “voile” frequency rank
- 38853
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | valle | voile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Val, vallée, vallon. | Large pièce de tissu assurant la propulsion des navires ou des moulins, par la force du vent. |
Where the eye mixes valle and voile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. valle (CVCCV) and voile (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses valle with voile
A purely visual mix-up. valle ([ˈbaʎe]) and voile (\vwal\) 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 38853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
valle is recorded at frequency rank #36,200, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaʎe]. voile is at rank #2,653, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vwal\.
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 38853, this pair ranks #252,338 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of valle vs voile
Shared letters: elv. Private to "valle": a. Private to "voile": io.
"valle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "voile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "valle" and "voile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "valle" vs "voile" - 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 "valle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #252,338 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "valle" and "voile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vail vs valle". 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 #252,338 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.