celavsceraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“cela” and “cera” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,875
“cela” frequency rank
#10,145
“cera” frequency rank
18020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cela cera
Definition aposento de prisioneiros substância que constitui os favos das abelhas

Where the eye mixes cela and cera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cela
4 ch
cera

Look-alike desk: cela vs cera

A purely visual mix-up. cela (/ˈsɛ.la/) and cera (/ˈse.ɾɐ/) 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 a single letter - l in “cela” becomes r in “cera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cela is recorded at frequency rank #7,875, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.la/. cera is at rank #10,145, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.ɾɐ/.

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 18020, this pair ranks #53,078 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cela vs cera

Shared letters: ace. Private to "cela": l. Private to "cera": r.

"cela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • celaccela · ceal · cella · clea · ecla
  • ceraccera · cear · cerra · crea · ecra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cela" for "cera" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɛ.la/ versus /ˈse.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cela" vs "cera" - which ranks higher?
"cela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,875 in our Portuguese list, against #10,145 for "cera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cela" and "cera" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,078 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cela" and "cera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cera vs cerda". 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 #53,078 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list