Which to use
“vale” and “valsa” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #576
- “vale” frequency rank
- #20,162
- “valsa” frequency rank
- 20738
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vale | valsa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | planície entre duas montanhas ou colinas | música de dança derivada do Ländler de compasso ternário |
Where the eye mixes vale and valsa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses vale with valsa
A purely visual mix-up. vale (/ˈva.lɨ/) and valsa (/ˈvałsɜ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vale is recorded at frequency rank #576, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈva.lɨ/. valsa is at rank #20,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvałsɜ/.
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 20738, this pair ranks #49,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vale vs valsa
Shared letters: alv. Private to "vale": e. Private to "valsa": s.
"vale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "valsa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vale" for "valsa" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vale" vs "valsa" - which ranks higher?
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 "vale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "valsa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vale" and "valsa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valsa vs vulva". 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 #49,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.