abuelasvsaquellasWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: abuelas is a noun, aquellas is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“abuelas” is a noun and “aquellas” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,761
“abuelas” frequency rank
#2,376
“aquellas” frequency rank
18137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abuelas aquellas
Definition Forma del plural de abuela. Forma del femenino plural de aquel.

Where the eye mixes abuelas and aquellas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
abuelas
8 ch
aquellas

Why the eye confuses abuelas with aquellas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abuelas is [aˈβ̞welas] while aquellas is [aˈkeʝas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abuelas is recorded at frequency rank #15,761, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈβ̞welas]. aquellas is at rank #2,376, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [aˈkeʝas].

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 18137, this pair ranks #269,200 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abuelas vs aquellas

Shared letters: aelsu. Private to "abuelas": b. Private to "aquellas": q.

"abuelas" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC  ·  "aquellas" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abuelasabbuelas · abeulas · abueals · abuelass · abuellas · abuelsa · abuleas · aubelas
  • aquellasaqeullas · aqquellas · aquelals · aquelas · aquellass · aquellsa · aqulelas · auqellas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abuelas" and "aquellas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abuelas" is a noun and "aquellas" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "abuelas" or "aquellas" show up more?
"aquellas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,376 in our Spanish list, against #15,761 for "abuelas". 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 "abuelas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aquellas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,200 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abuelas" and "aquellas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abuelas vs águilas". 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 #269,200 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list