valuvsvasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,256
“valu” frequency rank
#593
“vas” frequency rank
10849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valu vas
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de valoir. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de aller.

Where the eye mixes valu and vas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
valu
3 ch
vas

Look-alike desk: valu vs vas

A purely visual mix-up. valu (\va.ly\) and vas (\va\) 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 10849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valu is recorded at frequency rank #10,256, classified as averb, pronounced \va.ly\. vas is at rank #593, tagged as averb, pronounced \va\.

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 10849, this pair ranks #411,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of valu vs vas

Shared letters: av. Private to "valu": lu. Private to "vas": s.

"valu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valuavlu · vallu · vaul · vlau · vvalu

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "valu" and "vas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\va.ly\ versus \va\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "valu" vs "vas" - which ranks higher?
"vas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #593 in our French list, against #10,256 for "valu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "valu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #411,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valu" and "vas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valu vs vial". 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 #411,438 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