vá vs vai, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“vá” is an intj and “vai” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,517
“vá” frequency rank: #49
“vai” frequency rank: 1566
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	vá	vai
Definition	para indicar moderação, para prevenir de não provocar dano	relativo aos vais

Where the eye mixes vá and vai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

vá

3 ch

vai

Why the eye confuses vá with vai

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vá is /ˈva/ while vai is /ˈvaj/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vá is recorded at frequency rank #1,517, classified as anintj, pronounced /ˈva/. vai is at rank #49, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈvaj/.

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 1566, this pair ranks #73,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vá vs vai

Shared letters: v. Private to "vá": á. Private to "vai": ai.

"vá" · 2 letters · shape CV · "vai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vá" for "vai" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vá" is an intj and "vai" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "vá" or "vai"?

"vai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #49 in our Portuguese list, against #1,517 for "vá". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vá" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "vai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #73,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"vá" and "vai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vá vs vet". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #73,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.