celebrarvscélebreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: celebrar is a verb, célebre is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“celebrar” is a verb and “célebre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,761
“celebrar” frequency rank
#7,841
“célebre” frequency rank
10602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature celebrar célebre
Definition Llevar a cabo un rito o un acto civil. Muy famoso o reconocido por sus méritos.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set celebrar and célebre apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
celebrar
7 ch
célebre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: celebrar is [seleˈβ̞ɾaɾ] while célebre is [ˈseleβ̞ɾe]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

celebrar is recorded at frequency rank #2,761, classified as averb, pronounced [seleˈβ̞ɾaɾ]. célebre is at rank #7,841, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈseleβ̞ɾe].

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 10602, this pair ranks #298,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of celebrar vs célebre

Shared letters: bcelr. Private to "celebrar": a. Private to "célebre": é.

"celebrar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "célebre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • celebrarccelebrar · ceelbrar · celberar · celebarr · celebbrar · celebrarr · celebrra · celebrrar

Frequency comparison

celebrar#2,761
célebre#7,841

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "celebrar" and "célebre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "celebrar" is a verb and "célebre" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "celebrar" or "célebre"?
"celebrar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,761 in our Spanish list, against #7,841 for "célebre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering celebrar vs célebre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “celebrar”; for an adjective, it's “célebre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “celebrar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list