calarvscalmaTell them apart

Quick tell: calar is a verb, calma is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calar” is a verb and “calma” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,601
“calar” frequency rank
#3,615
“calma” frequency rank
48216
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calar calma
Definition Penetrar un líquido en un cuerpo permeable. Estado carente de movimiento.

Where the eye mixes calar and calma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
calar
5 ch
calma

Visual trap between calar and calma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calar is [kaˈlaɾ] while calma is [ˈkalma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calar is recorded at frequency rank #44,601, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈlaɾ]. calma is at rank #3,615, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkalma].

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 48216, this pair ranks #115,721 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calar vs calma

Shared letters: acl. Private to "calar": r. Private to "calma": m.

"calar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "calma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calaraclar · caalr · calarr · ccalar
  • calmaaclma · calam · callma · calmma · camla · ccalma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "calar" and "calma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calar" is a verb and "calma" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "calar" or "calma" show up more?
"calma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,615 in our Spanish list, against #44,601 for "calar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,721 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calar" and "calma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calar vs casará". 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 #115,721 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list