valênciavsvalentiaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,877
“valência” frequency rank
#29,950
“valentia” frequency rank
49827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valência valentia
Definition ato ou efeito de valer qualidade de valente

Where the eye mixes valência and valentia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. valência and valentia follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
valência
8 ch
valentia

Visual trap between valência and valentia

A purely visual mix-up. valência (/vɐ.ˈlẽ.sjɐ/) and valentia (/vɐ.lẽ.ˈti.ɐ/) 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 49827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valência is recorded at frequency rank #19,877, classified as anoun, pronounced /vɐ.ˈlẽ.sjɐ/. valentia is at rank #29,950, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɐ.lẽ.ˈti.ɐ/.

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 49827, this pair ranks #15,160 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of valência vs valentia

Shared letters: ailnv. Private to "valência": cê. Private to "valentia": et.

"valência" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "valentia" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valentia ← avlentia · vaelntia · valenita · valenntia · valentai · valenttia · valetnia · vallentia

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "valência" and "valentia" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/vɐ.ˈlẽ.sjɐ/ versus /vɐ.lẽ.ˈti.ɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "valência" or "valentia" show up more?
"valência" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,877 in our Portuguese list, against #29,950 for "valentia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "valência" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "valentia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,160 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valência" and "valentia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valência vs vivência". 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 #15,160 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