chela
/ˈkilə/
"chela" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chela” is uncommon English (frequency #96,854 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,854
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chela |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkilə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #96,854 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chela” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
chela is uncommon English at frequency #96,854 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkilə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.".
chela doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin chele, from Ancient Greek χηλή (khēlḗ). The correct English form is chela, spelled C-H-E-L-A.
Definition
- 1A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.
Etymology
From Latin chele, from Ancient Greek χηλή (khēlḗ).
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “chela”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-E-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkilə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.