chela
/ˈkilə/
"chela" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chela” is uncommon English (frequency #96,854 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,854
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chela · chela · English
chela · rank #96,854 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,854
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cheyney
Nearest frequency peer: cheyney (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “chela”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Cephas
Cephas
3,155 corpus weight
- Cerny
Cerny
3,154 corpus weight
- chela
chela
3,147 corpus weight
- cheyney
cheyney
3,146 corpus weight
- Chiricahua
Chiricahua
3,142 corpus weight
- Chitral
Chitral
3,141 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “chela” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “chela” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chela is uncommon English at frequency #96,854 among 5,599 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chela appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It happeneth often, I confess, that a lobster hath the chely or great claw of one side longer than the other […]
The tail is curved up over the body and the pedipalps held forwards with the tip of the movable finger of the chela in contact with the sand.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chela", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).