velavsverjaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,058
“vela” frequency rank
#34,836
“verja” frequency rank
39894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vela verja
Definition Cilindro de cera o grasa, atravesado longitudinalmente por una mecha o pábilo, usado para alumbrar. Cerca de hierro con enlazados, balaustres y pilastras.

Where the eye mixes vela and verja

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vela
5 ch
verja

Why the eye confuses vela with verja

A purely visual mix-up. vela ([ˈbela]) and verja ([ˈbeɾxa]) 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 39894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vela is recorded at frequency rank #5,058, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbela]. verja is at rank #34,836, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbeɾxa].

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 39894, this pair ranks #162,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vela vs verja

Shared letters: aev. Private to "vela": l. Private to "verja": jr.

"vela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "verja" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • velaevla · veal · vlea · vvela
  • verjaberja · evrja · vejra · veraj · verjja · verrja · vreja · vverja

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vela" for "verja" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbela] versus [ˈbeɾxa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "vela" or "verja" show up more?
"vela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,058 in our Spanish list, against #34,836 for "verja". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verja" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #162,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vela" and "verja" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verja vs Vira". 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 #162,071 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