canillasvscapillasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,493
“canillas” frequency rank
#25,544
“capillas” frequency rank
75037
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canillas capillas
Definition Forma del plural de canilla. Forma del plural de capilla.

Where the eye mixes canillas and capillas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
canillas
8 ch
capillas

Why the eye confuses canillas with capillas

A purely visual mix-up. canillas ([kaˈniʝas]) 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 a single letter - n in “canillas” becomes p in “capillas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

canillas is recorded at frequency rank #49,493, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈniʝas]. 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 75037, this pair ranks #20,307 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of canillas vs capillas

Shared letters: acils. Private to "canillas": n. Private to "capillas": p.

"canillas" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "capillas" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • canillasacnillas · cainllas · canilals · canilas · canillass · canillsa · canlilas · cannillas
  • capillasacpillas · caipllas · capilals · capilas · capillass · capillsa · caplilas · cappillas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "canillas" for "capillas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈniʝas] versus [kaˈpiʝas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "canillas" or "capillas" show up more?
"capillas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,544 in our Spanish list, against #49,493 for "canillas". 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 "canillas" 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 #20,307 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canillas" and "capillas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canillas vs colillas". 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 #20,307 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