clemênciavscoerênciaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,250
“clemência” frequency rank
#16,965
“coerência” frequency rank
40215
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clemência coerência
Definition amenidade congruência, nexo, ligação harmônica

Where the eye mixes clemência and coerência

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. clemência (CCVCVCCVV) and coerência (CVVCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
clemência
9 ch
coerência

Visual trap between clemência and coerência

A purely visual mix-up. clemência (/klɨ.ˈmẽ.sjɐ/) and coerência (/kwe.ˈɾẽ.sjɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clemência is recorded at frequency rank #23,250, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɨ.ˈmẽ.sjɐ/. coerência is at rank #16,965, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kwe.ˈɾẽ.sjɐ/.

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 40215, this pair ranks #25,949 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clemência vs coerência

Shared letters: aceinê. Private to "clemência": lm. Private to "coerência": or.

"clemência" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVV  ·  "coerência" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clemência" and "coerência" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/klɨ.ˈmẽ.sjɐ/ versus /kwe.ˈɾẽ.sjɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "clemência" or "coerência" show up more?
"coerência" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,965 in our Portuguese list, against #23,250 for "clemência". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clemência" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coerência" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,949 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clemência" and "coerência" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carência vs coerência". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,949 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