valavsvalleTell them apart

Which to use

“vala” and “valle” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,196
“vala” frequency rank
#14,048
“valle” frequency rank
30244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vala valle
Definition escavação em um terreno, de forma alongada e mais ou menos profunda, feita para variados fins, mais frequentemente para condução de águas, drenagem, ou instalação de encanamentos, esgotos etc vale

Letter map: vala vs valle

Shared letters muted; letters that set vala and valle apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. vala runs 4 letters (CVCV) against valle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
vala
5 ch
valle

Pair insight - vala / valle

vala and valle are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vala is recorded at frequency rank #16,196, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈva.lɐ/. valle is at rank #14,048, tagged as anoun.

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 30244, this pair ranks #38,168 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vala vs valle

Shared letters: alv. Private to "vala": -. Private to "valle": e.

"vala" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "valle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vala ← avla · vaal · valla · vlaa · vvala
  • valle ← avlle · valel · vlale · vvalle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vala" for "valle" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "vala" vs "valle" - which ranks higher?
"valle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,048 in our Portuguese list, against #16,196 for "vala". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "vala" vs "valle" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "valle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,168 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vala" and "valle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vala vs velar". 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 #38,168 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list