canillavscapillasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“canilla” and “capillas” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,774
“canilla” frequency rank
#25,544
“capillas” frequency rank
67318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canilla capillas
Definition Diminutivo de caña. Forma del plural de capilla.

Where the eye mixes canilla and capillas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. canilla runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against capillas's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
canilla
8 ch
capillas

Visual trap between canilla and capillas

A purely visual mix-up. canilla ([kaˈniʝa]) and capillas ([kaˈpiʝas]) 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 67318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

canilla is recorded at frequency rank #41,774, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈniʝa]. capillas is at rank #25,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈpiʝas].

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 67318, this pair ranks #37,447 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of canilla vs capillas

Shared letters: acil. Private to "canilla": n. Private to "capillas": ps.

"canilla" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "capillas" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • canilla ← acnilla · cainlla · canila · canilal · canlila · cannilla · ccanilla · cnailla
  • capillas ← acpillas · caipllas · capilals · capilas · capillass · capillsa · caplilas · cappillas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "canilla" and "capillas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈniʝa] versus [kaˈpiʝas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "canilla" or "capillas"?
"capillas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,544 in our Spanish list, against #41,774 for "canilla". 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 "canilla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "capillas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,447 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canilla" and "capillas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canilla vs canillas". 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 #37,447 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