vuelanvsvuelvaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,585
“vuelan” frequency rank
#2,480
“vuelva” frequency rank
16065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vuelan vuelva
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de volar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de volver o de volverse.

Where the eye mixes vuelan and vuelva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
vuelan
6 ch
vuelva

Why the eye confuses vuelan with vuelva

A purely visual mix-up. vuelan ([ˈbwelãn]) and vuelva ([ˈbwelβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vuelan is recorded at frequency rank #13,585, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbwelãn]. vuelva is at rank #2,480, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbwelβ̞a].

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 16065, this pair ranks #277,641 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vuelan vs vuelva

Shared letters: aeluv. Private to "vuelan": n. Private to "vuelva": -.

"vuelan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "vuelva" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vuelanbuelan · uvelan · veulan · vuealn · vuelann · vuellan · vuelna · vulean
  • vuelvabuelba · uvelva · veulva · vuelav · vuellva · vuelvva · vuevla · vuleva

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vuelan" and "vuelva" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbwelãn] versus [ˈbwelβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "vuelan" or "vuelva" show up more?
"vuelva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,480 in our Spanish list, against #13,585 for "vuelan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vuelan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vuelva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,641 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vuelan" and "vuelva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vallan vs vuelan". 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 #277,641 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