telavstutelaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,955
“tela” frequency rank
#12,499
“tutela” frequency rank
17454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tela tutela
Definition Material formado por numerosos hilos dispuestos en dos juegos perpendicularmente dispuestos, llamados urdimbre y trama, que se entrelazan manual o mecánicamente para formar una lámina Amparo concedido por la ley a los huérfanos y menores.

Where the eye mixes tela and tutela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tela runs 4 letters (CVCV) against tutela's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
tela
6 ch
tutela

Look-alike desk: tela vs tutela

A purely visual mix-up. tela ([ˈt̪ela]) and tutela ([t̪uˈt̪ela]) 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) - “tela” sits inside “tutela”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tela is recorded at frequency rank #4,955, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪ela]. tutela is at rank #12,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t̪uˈt̪ela].

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 17454, this pair ranks #272,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tela vs tutela

Shared letters: aelt. Private to "tela": -. Private to "tutela": u.

"tela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tutela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tela ← etla · teal · tella · tlea · ttela
  • tutela ← ttuela · ttutela · tuetla · tuteal · tutella · tutlea · tuttela · uttela

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tela" for "tutela" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪ela] versus [t̪uˈt̪ela]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tela" or "tutela"?
"tela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,955 in our Spanish list, against #12,499 for "tutela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tutela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #272,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tela" and "tutela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tutela vs tutelar". 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 #272,048 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