A lot depends, too, on the style.
What we call a cleaver basically is a European model axe with a side handle; used primarily for butchering large cuts of meat and breaking down animals.
Certainly it can be used as Keltin points out---providing you keep it ultra sharp. But the Japanese style cleaver is more akin to a carving knife. It's much thinner than conventional cleavers, and is used---often in tandem---for the jobs we use a chef's knife for.
There also are vegetable cleavers. These resemble Santoku knives, but are square cut up front, and lack the side-groves of a Santoku. Personally I've never cared much for them. And, near as I can determine, Sabatier is the last company offering them---another reason to just say no.
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