valsevsverseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#19,182
“valse” frequency rank
#11,320
“verse” frequency rank
30502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valse verse
Definition Danse tournante exécutée par un couple sur un mouvement, habituellement à trois temps. (Utilisé uniquement dans à verse, pleuvoir à verse) Action de verser, état de ce qui est versé.

Where the eye mixes valse and verse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
valse
5 ch
verse

Why the eye confuses valse with verse

A purely visual mix-up. valse (\vals\) and verse (\vɛʁs\) 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 30502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valse is recorded at frequency rank #19,182, classified as anoun, pronounced \vals\. verse is at rank #11,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɛʁs\.

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 30502, this pair ranks #309,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of valse vs verse

Shared letters: esv. Private to "valse": al. Private to "verse": r.

"valse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "verse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valseavlse · vales · vallse · valsse · vasle · vlase · vvalse
  • verseevrse · versse · vesre · vrese · vverse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "valse" and "verse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\vals\ versus \vɛʁs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "valse" or "verse"?
"verse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,320 in our French list, against #19,182 for "valse". 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 "valse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #309,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valse" and "verse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valse vs vils". 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 #309,898 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