ClaravsclavaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Clara is a name, clava is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Clara” is a name and “clava” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,565
“Clara” frequency rank
#24,423
“clava” frequency rank
25988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Clara clava
Definition Nombre de pila de mujer. Palo toscamente labrado, como de un metro de largo, que va aumentando de diámetro desde la empuñadura hasta el extremo opuesto.

Where the eye mixes Clara and clava

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Clara and clava follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Clara
5 ch
clava

Why the eye confuses Clara with clava

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Clara is [ˈklaɾa] while clava is [ˈklaβ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “Clara” becomes v in “clava”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Clara is recorded at frequency rank #1,565, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈklaɾa]. clava is at rank #24,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaβ̞a].

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 25988, this pair ranks #233,857 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Clara vs clava

Shared letters: acl. Private to "Clara": r. Private to "clava": v.

"Clara" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "clava" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Claracalra · cclara · claar · clarra · cllara · clraa · lcara
  • clavacclava · claav · claba · clavva · cllava · clvaa · lcava

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Clara" and "clava" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Clara" is a name and "clava" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Clara" vs "clava" - which ranks higher?
"Clara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,565 in our Spanish list, against #24,423 for "clava". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Clara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,857 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Clara" and "clava" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clava vs Cova". 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 #233,857 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