clave

[ˈklaβ̞e]

/[ˈklaβ̞e]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“clave” has 8 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #1,401. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,401
frequency rank, Spanish
8,288
“C” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Explicación de los signos convenidos para escribir en cifra, o de cualesquiera otros distintos de los conocidos o usuales.

Corpus desk

Index ES-clave · clave · Spanish

clave · rank #1,401 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,401
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,288
  • PHOTO-FINISH blanca

Nearest frequency peer: blanca (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “clave”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “clave” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

clave vs clay
60% similar
clave vs clavo
80% similar
clave vs close
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for clave
PropertyValue
Headwordclave
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈklaβ̞e]
Letters5
Frequency rank#1,401
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “clave”

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).clavecae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “blanca” (#1,400), “comienza” (#1,402), “Alemania” (#1,399). Entre 8,288 lemas con “C”, “clave” va en #1,401. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around clave (IPA [ˈklaβ̞e]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,401 among 8,288 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for clave, with forms such as "calve", "cclave", and "clabe". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "clay", "clavo", "close", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is clave, spelled C-L-A-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Explicación de los signos convenidos para escribir en cifra, o de cualesquiera otros distintos de los conocidos o usuales.
  2. 2
    Nota o explicación que necesitan algunos libros o escritos para la inteligencia de su composición artificiosa.
  3. 3
    Nota o idea por la cual se hace comprensible algo que era enigmático.
  4. 4
    Llave₁.
  5. 5
    Piedra con que se cierra el arco o bóveda.
  6. 6
    Signo que se pone al principio del pentagrama para determinar el nombre de las notas.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how clave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. «El enemigo mandó por radio mensajes en clave».

Synonyms

códigocifracontracifra

This word in other languages

key(English)clé(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • calve
  • cclave
  • clabe
  • claev
  • clavve
  • cllave
  • clvae
  • lcave

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clave - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

calve2cclave1clabe1claev2clavve1cllave1clvae2lcave2
Edit distance from "clave"

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "clave"?
"clave" is spelled C-L-A-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈklaβ̞e].
What does "clave" mean?
As a noun, "clave" means: Explicación de los signos convenidos para escribir en cifra, o de cualesquiera otros distintos de los conocidos o usuales.
What words are commonly confused with "clave"?
"clave" is commonly confused with "clay", "clavo", "close". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "clave"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clave" is [ˈklaβ̞e]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clave" come from?
"clave" is a Spanish word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "clave", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Rusia#1,395pocas#1,391hagan#1,413matar#1,383

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

dejado8 variantsestará8 variantssalvo8 variantsenorme8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list