clvsCutTell them apart

Quick tell: cl is a abbrev, Cut is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cl” is an abbrev and “Cut” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,252
“cl” frequency rank
#12,045
“Cut” frequency rank
22297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cl Cut
Definition Zentiliter (= 0,01 l, 10⁻² l, ein hundertstel Liter) kurz für Cutaway, festlicher Anzug für den Tag

Letter map: cl vs Cut

Shared letters muted; letters that set cl and Cut apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
cl
3 ch
Cut

Role in the sentence - cl and Cut

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cl is anabbrev and Cutanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cl is recorded at frequency rank #10,252, classified as anabbrev. Cut is at rank #12,045, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʌt].

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 22297, this pair ranks #1,875,879 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cl vs Cut

Shared letters: c. Private to "cl": l. Private to "Cut": tu.

"cl" · 2 letters · shape CC  ·  "Cut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cl" for "Cut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cl" is an abbrev and "Cut" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "cl" or "Cut" show up more?
"cl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,252 in our German list, against #12,045 for "Cut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "cl" and "Cut". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Cut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,875,879 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cl" and "Cut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCS vs Cut". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,875,879 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list