clavovsclavosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,776
“clavo” frequency rank
#16,289
“clavos” frequency rank
26065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clavo clavos
Definition Pequeña barra de metal delgada y puntiaguda, que se inserta en tablas, paredes y tabiques con un martillo, con el propósito de sujetar o pegar. Forma del plural de clavo.

Where the eye mixes clavo and clavos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
clavo
6 ch
clavos

Visual trap between clavo and clavos

A purely visual mix-up. clavo ([ˈklaβ̞o]) and clavos ([ˈklaβ̞os]) 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 extra letter(s) - “clavo” sits inside “clavos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clavo is recorded at frequency rank #9,776, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaβ̞o]. clavos is at rank #16,289, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaβ̞os].

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 26065, this pair ranks #233,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clavo vs clavos

Shared letters: aclov. Private to "clavo": -. Private to "clavos": s.

"clavo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "clavos" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clavocclavo · clabo · claov · clavvo · cllavo · clvao · lcavo
  • clavoscalvos · cclavos · clabos · claovs · clavoss · clavso · clavvos · cllavos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clavo" and "clavos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaβ̞o] versus [ˈklaβ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "clavo" vs "clavos" - which ranks higher?
"clavo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,776 in our Spanish list, against #16,289 for "clavos". 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 "clavo" and "clavos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clavo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clavos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clavo" and "clavos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chamos vs clavos". 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 #233,496 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