calevsclaveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cale” and “clave” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,231
“cale” frequency rank
#1,401
“clave” frequency rank
42632
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cale clave
Definition Golpe suave con la mano. Explicación de los signos convenidos para escribir en cifra, o de cualesquiera otros distintos de los conocidos o usuales.

Where the eye mixes cale and clave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cale
5 ch
clave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cale ([ˈkale]) and clave ([ˈklaβ̞e]) 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 42632, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cale is recorded at frequency rank #41,231, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkale]. clave is at rank #1,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaβ̞e].

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 42632, this pair ranks #147,119 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cale vs clave

Shared letters: acel. Private to "cale": -. Private to "clave": v.

"cale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "clave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calecael · ccale · clae
  • clavecalve · cclave · clabe · claev · clavve · cllave · clvae · lcave

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cale" and "clave" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkale] versus [ˈklaβ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cale" or "clave"?
"clave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,401 in our Spanish list, against #41,231 for "cale". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list