Which to use
“vau” and “vaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,109
- “vau” frequency rank
- #8,943
- “vaux” frequency rank
- 51052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vau | vaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie du cintre utilisée pour soutenir la voute pendant sa construction. | ou Pluriel de val. |
Same sound, different letters: vau vs vaux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. vau runs 3 letters (CVV) against vaux's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - vau / vaux
This is the hard kind. vau and vaux are pronounced identically (\vo\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “vau” sits inside “vaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vau is recorded at frequency rank #42,109, classified as anoun, pronounced \vo\. vaux is at rank #8,943, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vo\.
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 51052, this pair ranks #157,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vau vs vaux
Shared letters: auv. Private to "vau": -. Private to "vaux": x.
"vau" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "vaux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vaux ← avux · vauxx · vaxu · vuax · vvaux
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vau" and "vaux" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "vau" vs "vaux" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "vau" / "vaux". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "vau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vau" and "vaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vau vs vlan". 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 #157,960 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.