clicarvsclonarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,855
“clicar” frequency rank
#46,745
“clonar” frequency rank
57600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clicar clonar
Definition gerar um clique (estalido) realizar criação de clone

Where the eye mixes clicar and clonar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clicar and clonar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
clicar
6 ch
clonar

Visual trap between clicar and clonar

A purely visual mix-up. clicar (/kli.ˈkaɾ/) and clonar (/klu.ˈnaɾ/) 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 57600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clicar is recorded at frequency rank #10,855, classified as averb, pronounced /kli.ˈkaɾ/. clonar is at rank #46,745, tagged as averb, pronounced /klu.ˈnaɾ/.

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 57600, this pair ranks #9,243 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clicar vs clonar

Shared letters: aclr. Private to "clicar": i. Private to "clonar": no.

"clicar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "clonar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clicar ← cclicar · cilcar · clciar · cliacr · clicarr · cliccar · clicra · cllicar
  • clonar ← cclonar · cllonar · clnoar · cloanr · clonarr · clonnar · clonra · colnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clicar" and "clonar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kli.ˈkaɾ/ versus /klu.ˈnaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clicar" or "clonar"?
"clicar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,855 in our Portuguese list, against #46,745 for "clonar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clicar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clonar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,243 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clicar" and "clonar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clamar vs clonar". 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 #9,243 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