Which to use
“call” is a noun and “cela” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,939
- “call” frequency rank
- #150
- “cela” frequency rank
- 8089
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | call | cela |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quartier juif, séparé de la ville chrétienne, en Catalogne. | Cette chose-là, par opposition à cette chose-ci. — Note d’usage : Pronom démonstratif neutre permettant de remplacer un objet distant (ou un être vivant dont on ignore la nature). En revanche (à l’inverse du pronom ceci), il ne remplace jamais une personne. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set call and cela apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
call and cela form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
call is recorded at frequency rank #7,939, classified as anoun, pronounced \kal\. cela is at rank #150, tagged as apron, pronounced \sə.la\.
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 8089, this pair ranks #421,181 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "call" and "cela" be used interchangeably?
Remembering call vs cela
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “call”; for a pronoun, it's “cela”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “call” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable