fíavsfilasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fía is a verb, filas is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fía” is a verb and “filas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,850
“fía” frequency rank
#4,897
“filas” frequency rank
45747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fía filas
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de fiar. Forma del plural de fila.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fía and filas apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
fía
5 ch
filas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fía is [ˈfia] while filas is [ˈfilas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fía is recorded at frequency rank #40,850, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfia]. filas is at rank #4,897, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfilas].

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 45747, this pair ranks #129,637 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fía vs filas

Shared letters: af. Private to "fía": í. Private to "filas": ils.

"fía" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "filas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filasffilas · fials · filass · fillas · filsa · flias · iflas

Frequency comparison

fía#40,850
filas#4,897

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fía" and "filas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fía" is a verb and "filas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fía" or "filas"?
"filas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,897 in our Spanish list, against #40,850 for "fía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fía vs filas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fía”; for a noun, it's “filas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fía” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list