clavanvsclavandoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,417
“clavan” frequency rank
#42,338
“clavando” frequency rank
77755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clavan clavando
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de clavar o de clavarse. Gerundio de clavar.

Where the eye mixes clavan and clavando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
clavan
8 ch
clavando

Visual trap between clavan and clavando

A purely visual mix-up. clavan ([ˈklaβ̞ãn]) and clavando ([klaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “clavan” sits inside “clavando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clavan is recorded at frequency rank #35,417, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈklaβ̞ãn]. clavando is at rank #42,338, tagged as averb, pronounced [klaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o].

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 77755, this pair ranks #15,486 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clavan vs clavando

Shared letters: aclnv. Private to "clavan": -. Private to "clavando": do.

"clavan" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "clavando" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clavancalvan · cclavan · claavn · claban · clavann · clavna · clavvan · cllavan
  • clavandocalvando · cclavando · claavndo · clabando · clavadno · clavanddo · clavanndo · clavanod

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clavan" and "clavando" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaβ̞ãn] versus [klaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "clavan" or "clavando" show up more?
"clavan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,417 in our Spanish list, against #42,338 for "clavando". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clavan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clavando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,486 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clavan" and "clavando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clamando vs clavando". 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 #15,486 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