clasevscurseWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#397
“clase” frequency rank
#44,090
“curse” frequency rank
44487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clase curse
Definition Marca o tipo, a menudo asociado con “modelo”. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cursar.

Where the eye mixes clase and curse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clase (CCVCV) and curse (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
clase
5 ch
curse

Look-alike desk: clase vs curse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clase is [ˈklase] while curse is [ˈkuɾse]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clase is recorded at frequency rank #397, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklase]. curse is at rank #44,090, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkuɾse].

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 44487, this pair ranks #136,789 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clase vs curse

Shared letters: ces. Private to "clase": al. Private to "curse": ru.

"clase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "curse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clase ← calse · cclase · clace · claes · classe · cllase · clsae · lcase
  • curse ← ccurse · cruse · curce · cures · currse · cursse · cusre · ucrse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clase" for "curse" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clase" is a noun and "curse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "clase" or "curse" show up more?
"clase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #397 in our Spanish list, against #44,090 for "curse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "curse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,789 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clase" and "curse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "curse vs curt". 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 #136,789 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