Which to use
“cera” and “chela” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,952
- “cera” frequency rank
- #38,008
- “chela” frequency rank
- 47960
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cera | chela |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Bebida alcohólica, espumosa, no destilada, obtenida por fermentación de la cebada germinada y malta en agua, y aromatizada con lúpulo, boj o casia. |
Where the eye mixes cera and chela
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cera runs 4 letters (CVCV) against chela's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cera and chela
A purely visual mix-up. cera ([ˈseɾa]) and chela ([ˈt͡ʃela]) 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 47960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cera is recorded at frequency rank #9,952, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈseɾa]. chela is at rank #38,008, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃela].
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 47960, this pair ranks #117,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cera vs chela
Shared letters: ace. Private to "cera": r. Private to "chela": hl.
"cera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "chela" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cera" and "chela" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cera" vs "chela" - which ranks higher?
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 "cera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #117,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cera" and "chela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs chela". 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 #117,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.