Which to use
“dela” and “delos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,645
- “dela” frequency rank
- #33,063
- “delos” frequency rank
- 53708
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dela | delos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contracción de la preposición de y el artículo la | Contracción de la preposición de y el artículo los |
Where the eye mixes dela and delos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dela runs 4 letters (CVCV) against delos's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dela with delos
A purely visual mix-up. dela (/ˈde.la/) and delos (/ˈde.los/) 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 53708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dela is recorded at frequency rank #20,645, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.la/. delos is at rank #33,063, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.los/.
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 53708, this pair ranks #86,616 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dela vs delos
Shared letters: del. Private to "dela": a. Private to "delos": os.
"dela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "delos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dela" and "delos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dela" or "delos" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,616 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dela" and "delos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deli vs delos". 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 #86,616 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.