varelavsvaríolaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“varela” and “varíola” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,406
“varela” frequency rank
#28,414
“varíola” frequency rank
45820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature varela varíola
Definition homem casado que, em relação à mulher, é o meio termo entre varão e varunca doença contagiosa aguda (oficialmente declarada extinta do planeta na década de 1970), de origem viral, caracterizada por febre, dor no corpo, vômitos e lesões cutâneas

Letter map: varela vs varíola

Shared letters muted; letters that set varela and varíola apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. varela runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against varíola's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
varela
7 ch
varíola

Spelling & dictionary notes on varela vs varíola

varela and varíola are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

varela is recorded at frequency rank #17,406, classified as anoun. varíola is at rank #28,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɐ.ˈɾi.u.lɐ/.

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 45820, this pair ranks #19,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of varela vs varíola

Shared letters: alrv. Private to "varela": e. Private to "varíola": oí.

"varela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "varíola" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • varela ← avrela · vaerla · vareal · varella · varlea · varrela · vraela · vvarela

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "varela" and "varíola" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "varela" vs "varíola" - which ranks higher?
"varela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,406 in our Portuguese list, against #28,414 for "varíola". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "varela" vs "varíola" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "varela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "varíola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "varela" and "varíola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "varela vs vareta". 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 #19,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list