nelas

contraction

The verdict

“nelas” is a regularly-used Portuguese word, ranked #8,231 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a contraction.

#8,231
frequency rank, Portuguese
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - contração da preposição em com o pronome pessoal no plural elas: plural de nela

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

nelas vs news
60% similar
nelas vs neta
60% similar
nelas vs nula
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for nelas
PropertyValue
Headwordnelas
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechContraction
Letters5
Frequency rank#8,231
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “nelas” sits in Portuguese frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). nelas lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Portuguese entry for nelas is 5 letters long, classified as a contraction. Corpus data places it at rank #8,231 in overall Portuguese word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "contração da preposição em com o pronome pessoal no plural elas: plural de nela".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for nelas, with forms such as "enlas", "neals", and "nelass". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "news", "neta", "nula", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Portuguese form is nelas, spelled N-E-L-A-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    contração da preposição em com o pronome pessoal no plural elas: plural de nela

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: enlas,neals,nelass,nellas,nelsa,nleas,nnelas

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nelas - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

enlas2neals2nelass1nellas1nelsa2nleas2nnelas1
Edit distance from "nelas"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nelas"?
"nelas" is spelled N-E-L-A-S.
What does "nelas" mean?
As a contraction, "nelas" means: contração da preposição em com o pronome pessoal no plural elas: plural de nela
What words are commonly confused with "nelas"?
"nelas" is commonly confused with "news", "neta", "nula". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "nelas" come from?
"nelas" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “nelas”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Portuguese spelling is N-E-L-A-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “news” - see the side-by-side comparison. nelas vs news
  • Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list