valavsvoltTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,196
“vala” frequency rank
#35,827
“volt” frequency rank
52023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vala volt
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 unidade de medida de voltagem; o mesmo que vóltio

Where the eye mixes vala and volt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vala
4 ch
volt

Why the eye confuses vala with volt

A purely visual mix-up. vala (/ˈva.lɐ/) and volt (/ˈvɔɫt/) 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 52023, 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/. volt is at rank #35,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɔɫt/.

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 52023, this pair ranks #13,105 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vala vs volt

Shared letters: lv. Private to "vala": a. Private to "volt": ot.

"vala" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "volt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valaavla · vaal · valla · vlaa · vvala
  • voltovlt · vlot · vollt · voltt · votl · vvolt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vala" for "volt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈva.lɐ/ versus /ˈvɔɫt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vala" or "volt"?
"vala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,196 in our Portuguese list, against #35,827 for "volt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "volt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,105 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vala" and "volt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velo vs volt". 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 #13,105 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