vela
[ˈbela]
The verdict
“vela” is a regularly-used Spanish word, ranked #5,058 in Spanish word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,058
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Cilindro de cera o grasa, atravesado longitudinalmente por una mecha o pábilo, usado para alumbrar.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | vela |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈbela] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #5,058 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vela” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for vela is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈbela]. Corpus data places it at rank #5,058 in overall Spanish word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for vela, with forms such as "evla", "veal", and "vlea". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vez", "ver", "veo", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Spanish form is vela, spelled V-E-L-A.
Definition
- 1Cilindro de cera o grasa, atravesado longitudinalmente por una mecha o pábilo, usado para alumbrar.
- 2Acción y efecto de velar.
- 3Período durante el que se vela.
- 4Trabajo nocturno.
- 5Asistencia delante del Santísimo Sacramento.
- 6Romería a algunos santuarios.
- 7Centinela nocturno o guardia que cuidaba un lugar durante la noche.
- 8Acción de acompañar al fallecido piadosamente en las horas previas al entierro.
- 9Reprimenda o reconvención.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: evla,veal,vlea,vvela
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vela - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "vela"?
What does "vela" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “vela”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is V-E-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈbela] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vez” - see the side-by-side comparison. vela vs vez
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.