VascovsvasesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,550
“Vasco” frequency rank
#18,359
“vases” frequency rank
58909
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Vasco vases
Definition Basque, Gascon. Pluriel de vase.

Where the eye mixes Vasco and vases

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Vasco (CVCCV) and vases (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Vasco
5 ch
vases

Look-alike desk: Vasco vs vases

A purely visual mix-up. Vasco (\ˈwas.koː\) and vases (\vaz\) 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 58909, 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\. vases is at rank #18,359, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vaz\.

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 58909, this pair ranks #106,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Vasco vs vases

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

"Vasco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "vases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vasco ← avsco · vacso · vascco · vasoc · vassco · vsaco · vvasco
  • vases ← avses · vaess · vasess · vasses · vsaes · vvases

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Vasco" for "vases" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈwas.koː\ versus \vaz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Vasco" vs "vases" - which ranks higher?
"vases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,359 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.

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 "Vasco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vases" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #106,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Vasco" and "vases" 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 #106,207 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