teclavstecladoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,300
“tecla” frequency rank
#5,897
“teclado” frequency rank
23197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tecla teclado
Definition Cada una de las piezas que se oprimen con los dedos para hacer sonar ciertos instrumentos musicales o para hacer funcionar ciertos aparatos Conjunto de teclas de un instrumento o mecanismo.

Where the eye mixes tecla and teclado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tecla runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against teclado's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tecla
7 ch
teclado

Why the eye confuses tecla with teclado

A purely visual mix-up. tecla ([ˈt̪ekla]) and teclado ([t̪eˈklað̞o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “tecla” sits inside “teclado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tecla is recorded at frequency rank #17,300, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪ekla]. teclado is at rank #5,897, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t̪eˈklað̞o].

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 23197, this pair ranks #246,911 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tecla vs teclado

Shared letters: acelt. Private to "tecla": -. Private to "teclado": do.

"tecla" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "teclado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tecla ← etcla · tcela · tecal · teccla · teclla · telca · ttecla
  • teclado ← etclado · tcelado · tecaldo · tecclado · tecladdo · teclaod · tecldao · tecllado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tecla" and "teclado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪ekla] versus [t̪eˈklað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tecla" or "teclado" show up more?
"teclado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,897 in our Spanish list, against #17,300 for "tecla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tecla" and "teclado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tecla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teclado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #246,911 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tecla" and "teclado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tecla vs terca". 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 #246,911 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