VascovsvaseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,550
“Vasco” frequency rank
#10,099
“vase” frequency rank
50649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Vasco vase
Definition Basque, Gascon. Bourbe, limon qui se dépose au fond de la mer, des fleuves, des étangs, etc.

Where the eye mixes Vasco and vase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Vasco runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against vase's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Vasco
4 ch
vase

Visual trap between Vasco and vase

A purely visual mix-up. Vasco (\ˈwas.koː\) and vase (\vɑz\) 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 50649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Vasco is recorded at frequency rank #40,550, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈwas.koː\. vase is at rank #10,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɑz\.

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 50649, this pair ranks #161,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Vasco vs vase

Shared letters: asv. Private to "Vasco": co. Private to "vase": e.

"Vasco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "vase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vasco ← avsco · vacso · vascco · vasoc · vassco · vsaco · vvasco
  • vase ← avse · vaes · vasse · vsae · vvase

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Vasco" for "vase" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈwas.koː\ versus \vɑz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Vasco" or "vase"?
"vase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,099 in our French list, against #40,550 for "Vasco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Vasco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Vasco" and "vase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vasco vs visio". 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 #161,011 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