velavsvulvaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,478
“vela” frequency rank
#46,120
“vulva” frequency rank
51598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vela vulva
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 parte externa do aparelho genital feminino que protege a vagina; é formada pelos grandes lábios, pequenos lábios, clitóris, orifício vaginal e uretral

Where the eye mixes vela and vulva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vela runs 4 letters (CVCV) against vulva's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
vela
5 ch
vulva

Look-alike desk: vela vs vulva

A purely visual mix-up. vela (/ˈvɛ.lɐ/) and vulva (['vuɫ.vɐ]) 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 51598, 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/. vulva is at rank #46,120, tagged as anoun, pronounced ['vuɫ.vɐ].

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 51598, this pair ranks #13,473 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vela vs vulva

Shared letters: alv. Private to "vela": e. Private to "vulva": u.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vela ← evla · veal · vella · vlea · vvela
  • vulva ← uvlva · vluva · vulav · vullva · vulvva · vuvla · vvulva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vela" for "vulva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvɛ.lɐ/ versus ['vuɫ.vɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vela" vs "vulva" - which ranks higher?
"vela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,478 in our Portuguese list, against #46,120 for "vulva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "vela" and "vulva" 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 "vulva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,473 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vela" and "vulva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vulto vs vulva". 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 #13,473 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