vela

[ˈbela]

/[ˈbela]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“vela” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,058) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,058
frequency rank, Spanish
1,793
“V” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Cilindro de cera o grasa, atravesado longitudinalmente por una mecha o pábilo, usado para alumbrar.

Corpus desk

Index ES-vela · vela · Spanish

vela · rank #5,058 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,058
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,793
  • PHOTO-FINISH unirse

Nearest frequency peer: unirse (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “vela”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “vela” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

vela vs vez
50% similar
vela vs ver
50% similar
vela vs veo
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for vela
PropertyValue
Headwordvela
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈbela]
Letters4
Frequency rank#5,058
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “vela”

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).velacae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “unirse” (#5,057), “vestidos” (#5,059), “triple” (#5,056). Entre 1,793 lemas con “V”, “vela” va en #5,058. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for vela is neighbouring look-alikes ("vez", "ver", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ˈbela]. Frequency #5,058 among 1,793 “V” headwords. 9 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

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

  1. 1
    Cilindro de cera o grasa, atravesado longitudinalmente por una mecha o pábilo, usado para alumbrar.
  2. 2
    Acción y efecto de velar.
  3. 3
    Período durante el que se vela.
  4. 4
    Trabajo nocturno.
  5. 5
    Asistencia delante del Santísimo Sacramento.
  6. 6
    Romería a algunos santuarios.
  7. 7
    Centinela nocturno o guardia que cuidaba un lugar durante la noche.
  8. 8
    Acción de acompañar al fallecido piadosamente en las horas previas al entierro.
  9. 9
    Reprimenda o reconvención.

Synonyms

candelabujíaciriovelacióntrasnochetrasnochadavigiliavelatorio

This word in other languages

candle(English)bougie(Français)Kerze(Deutsch)vela(Português)

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.

evla2veal2vlea2vvela1
Edit distance from "vela"

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"?
"vela" is spelled V-E-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈbela].
What does "vela" mean?
As a noun, "vela" means: Cilindro de cera o grasa, atravesado longitudinalmente por una mecha o pábilo, usado para alumbrar.
What words are commonly confused with "vela"?
"vela" is commonly confused with "vez", "ver", "veo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vela"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vela" is [ˈbela]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vela" come from?
"vela" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "vela", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Tony#5,052Alan#5,065mini#5,017from#5,110

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list