clerovscóleraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,779
“clero” frequency rank
#10,121
“cólera” frequency rank
22900
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clero cólera
Definition Conjunto de los clérigos, así de órdenes mayores como menores, incluso los de la primera tonsura. Bilis.

Where the eye mixes clero and cólera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
clero
6 ch
cólera

Look-alike desk: clero vs cólera

A purely visual mix-up. clero ([ˈkleɾo]) and cólera ([ˈkoleɾa]) 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 22900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clero is recorded at frequency rank #12,779, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkleɾo]. cólera is at rank #10,121, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoleɾa].

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 22900, this pair ranks #248,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of clero vs cólera

Shared letters: celr. Private to "clero": o. Private to "cólera": .

"clero" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "cólera" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clerocclero · celro · cleor · clerro · cllero · clreo · lcero

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clero" for "cólera" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkleɾo] versus [ˈkoleɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "clero" vs "cólera" - which ranks higher?
"cólera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,121 in our Spanish list, against #12,779 for "clero". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clero" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cólera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clero" and "cólera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Charo vs clero". 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 #248,253 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