ceravscleroWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,145
“cera” frequency rank
#16,470
“clero” frequency rank
26615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cera clero
Definition substância que constitui os favos das abelhas classe ou ordem religiosa

Where the eye mixes cera and clero

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cera runs 4 letters (CVCV) against clero's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
cera
5 ch
clero

Visual trap between cera and clero

A purely visual mix-up. cera (/ˈse.ɾɐ/) and clero (/ˈklɛ.ɾu/) 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 26615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cera is recorded at frequency rank #10,145, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.ɾɐ/. clero is at rank #16,470, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɛ.ɾu/.

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 26615, this pair ranks #42,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cera vs clero

Shared letters: cer. Private to "cera": a. Private to "clero": lo.

"cera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "clero" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cera ← ccera · cear · cerra · crea · ecra
  • clero ← cclero · celro · cleor · clerro · cllero · clreo · lcero

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cera" and "clero" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈse.ɾɐ/ versus /ˈklɛ.ɾu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cera" vs "clero" - which ranks higher?
"cera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,145 in our Portuguese list, against #16,470 for "clero". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clero" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cera" and "clero" 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 #42,507 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