cerrévscorteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cerré is a verb, corte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cerré” is a verb and “corte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,251
“cerré” frequency rank
#803
“corte” frequency rank
22054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cerré corte
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de cerrar o de cerrarse. Acción de cortar o de cortarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cerré and corte apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cerré
5 ch
corte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cerré is [seˈre] while corte is [ˈkoɾt̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cerré is recorded at frequency rank #21,251, classified as averb, pronounced [seˈre]. corte is at rank #803, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoɾt̪e].

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 22054, this pair ranks #252,156 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cerré vs corte

Shared letters: cer. Private to "cerré": é. Private to "corte": ot.

"cerré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cortte · cotre · crote · ocrte

Frequency comparison

cerré#21,251
corte#803

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cerré" and "corte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cerré" is a verb and "corte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cerré" or "corte"?
"corte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #803 in our Spanish list, against #21,251 for "cerré". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cerré vs corte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “cerré”; for a noun, it's “corte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cerré” 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