caravsclavaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#444
“cara” frequency rank
#24,423
“clava” frequency rank
24867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cara clava
Definition En el hombre y algunos animales, parte frontal de la cabeza, donde se encuentran los ojos, nariz y boca. Palo toscamente labrado, como de un metro de largo, que va aumentando de diámetro desde la empuñadura hasta el extremo opuesto.

Where the eye mixes cara and clava

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

4 ch
cara
5 ch
clava

Why the eye confuses cara with clava

A purely visual mix-up. cara ([ˈkaɾa]) and clava ([ˈklaβ̞a]) 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 24867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cara is recorded at frequency rank #444, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾa]. clava is at rank #24,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaβ̞a].

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 24867, this pair ranks #239,120 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cara vs clava

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cara": r. Private to "clava": lv.

"cara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "clava" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caraacra · caar · carra · ccara · craa
  • clavacclava · claav · claba · clavva · cllava · clvaa · lcava

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cara" and "clava" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaɾa] versus [ˈklaβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cara" vs "clava" - which ranks higher?
"cara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Spanish list, against #24,423 for "clava". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #239,120 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cara" and "clava" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clava vs Cova". 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 #239,120 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