vilavsvulvaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,184
“vila” frequency rank
#46,120
“vulva” frequency rank
47304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vila vulva
Definition povoação de tamanho intermédio entre aldeia e cidade 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 vila and vulva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vila 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
vila
5 ch
vulva

Visual trap between vila and vulva

A purely visual mix-up. vila (/ˈvi.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 47304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vila is recorded at frequency rank #1,184, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.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 47304, this pair ranks #17,955 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vila vs vulva

Shared letters: alv. Private to "vila": i. Private to "vulva": u.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vila ← ivla · vial · villa · vlia · vvila
  • vulva ← uvlva · vluva · vulav · vullva · vulvva · vuvla · vvulva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vila" for "vulva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvi.lɐ/ versus ['vuɫ.vɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vila" or "vulva"?
"vila" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,184 in our Portuguese list, against #46,120 for "vulva". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vila" 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 #17,955 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vila" 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 #17,955 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