clanvsclashWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,967
“clan” frequency rank
#29,104
“clash” frequency rank
37071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clan clash
Definition Grupo de personas con un vínculo de sangre o parentesco, que establece derechos y obligaciones entre sí. Conflicto.

Where the eye mixes clan and clash

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

4 ch
clan
5 ch
clash

Visual trap between clan and clash

A purely visual mix-up. clan ([ˈklãn]) and clash (/klæʃ/) 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 37071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clan is recorded at frequency rank #7,967, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklãn]. clash is at rank #29,104, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klæʃ/.

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 37071, this pair ranks #177,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clan vs clash

Shared letters: acl. Private to "clan": n. Private to "clash": hs.

"clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "clash" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clancaln · cclan · clann · cllan · clna · lcan
  • clashcalsh · cclash · clahs · clashh · classh · cllash · clsah · lcash

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clan" and "clash" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklãn] versus /klæʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "clan" or "clash" show up more?
"clan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,967 in our Spanish list, against #29,104 for "clash". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "clan" and "clash" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clan" and "clash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clash vs craso". 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 #177,258 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