claimvsClanTell them apart

Quick tell: claim is a verb, Clan is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“claim” is a verb and “Clan” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,028
“claim” frequency rank
#9,695
“Clan” frequency rank
47723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature claim Clan
Definition verlangen, fordern, einfordern, reklamieren (schottischer/irischer) Stammes-/Volksverband

Where the eye mixes claim and Clan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
claim
4 ch
Clan

Why the eye confuses claim with Clan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: claim is [kleɪm] while Clan is [klaːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

claim is recorded at frequency rank #38,028, classified as averb, pronounced [kleɪm]. Clan is at rank #9,695, tagged as anoun, pronounced [klaːn].

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 47723, this pair ranks #1,274,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of claim vs Clan

Shared letters: acl. Private to "claim": im. Private to "Clan": n.

"claim" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • claimcalim · cclaim · claimm · clami · cliam · cllaim · lcaim
  • Clancaln · cclan · clann · cllan · clna · lcan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "claim" and "Clan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "claim" is a verb and "Clan" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "claim" or "Clan" show up more?
"Clan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,695 in our German list, against #38,028 for "claim". 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 "claim" and "Clan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "claim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Clan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,274,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "claim" and "Clan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claim vs clair". 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 #1,274,346 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