Which to use
“vela” and “vida” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,478
- “vela” frequency rank
- #85
- “vida” frequency rank
- 5563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vela | vida |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | peça de brim ou lona que, presa às vergas de um mastro ou ao próprio mastro da embarcação, impele esta com a ajuda do vento | propriedade que caracteriza os organismos cuja existência evolui do nascimento até a morte |
Where the eye mixes vela and vida
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between vela and vida
A purely visual mix-up. vela (/ˈvɛ.lɐ/) and vida (/ˈvi.ta/) 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 5563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vela is recorded at frequency rank #5,478, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɛ.lɐ/. vida is at rank #85, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.ta/.
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 5563, this pair ranks #69,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vela vs vida
Shared letters: av. Private to "vela": el. Private to "vida": di.
"vela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "vida" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vela" for "vida" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vela" vs "vida" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "vela" and "vida" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vida" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vela" and "vida" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vela vs velar". 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 #69,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.