clientevsclientelaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,084
“cliente” frequency rank
#20,238
“clientela” frequency rank
22322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cliente clientela
Definition pessoa protegida grupo de pessoas ou entidades econômicas que costumam comprar, ter relações mercantis, com um determinado fornecedor; o mesmo que compradores

Where the eye mixes cliente and clientela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cliente
9 ch
clientela

Look-alike desk: cliente vs clientela

A purely visual mix-up. cliente (/kli.ˈẽ.tɨ/) and clientela (/kli.ẽ.ˈtɛ.lɐ/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cliente” sits inside “clientela”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cliente is recorded at frequency rank #2,084, classified as anoun, pronounced /kli.ˈẽ.tɨ/. clientela is at rank #20,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kli.ẽ.ˈtɛ.lɐ/.

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 22322, this pair ranks #47,758 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cliente vs clientela

Shared letters: ceilnt. Private to "cliente": -. Private to "clientela": a.

"cliente" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV  ·  "clientela" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clienteccliente · cilente · cleinte · clienet · cliennte · clientte · clietne · clinete
  • clientelacclientela · cilentela · cleintela · clienetla · clienntela · clienteal · clientella · clientlea

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cliente" and "clientela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kli.ˈẽ.tɨ/ versus /kli.ẽ.ˈtɛ.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cliente" or "clientela"?
"cliente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,084 in our Portuguese list, against #20,238 for "clientela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cliente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clientela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,758 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cliente" and "clientela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caliente vs cliente". 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 #47,758 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