cepasvsceraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,553
“cepas” frequency rank
#9,952
“cera” frequency rank
35505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cepas cera
Definition Forma del plural de cepa. Se llama así a cualquier éster de los ácidos grasos con alcoholes de peso molecular elevado, es decir, son moléculas que se obtienen por esterificación de un ácido graso con un alcohol monovalente lineal de cadena larga. Por ejemplo la cera de abeja. Son sustancias altamente insolubles en medios acuosos y a temperatura ambiente se presentan sólidas y duras. En los animales la podemos encontrar en la superficie del cuerpo, piel, plumas. En vegetales las ceras recubren en la epidermis de frutos, tallos, junto con la cutícula o la suberina, que evitan la pérdida de agua por evaporación en las plantas.

Where the eye mixes cepas and cera

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

5 ch
cepas
4 ch
cera

Look-alike desk: cepas vs cera

A purely visual mix-up. cepas ([ˈsepas]) and cera ([ˈseɾa]) 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 35505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cepas is recorded at frequency rank #25,553, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsepas]. cera is at rank #9,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈseɾa].

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 35505, this pair ranks #185,717 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cepas vs cera

Shared letters: ace. Private to "cepas": ps. Private to "cera": r.

"cepas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cepasccepas · ceaps · cepass · ceppas · cepsa · cpeas · ecpas
  • ceraccera · cerra · ecra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cepas" for "cera" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsepas] versus [ˈseɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cepas" or "cera"?
"cera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,952 in our Spanish list, against #25,553 for "cepas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cepas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,717 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cepas" and "cera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs cepas". 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 #185,717 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