ClanvsClareTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#9,695
“Clan” frequency rank
#39,271
“Clare” frequency rank
48966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Clan Clare
Definition (schottischer/irischer) Stammes-/Volksverband ein County bzw. eine historische Grafschaft in der Provinz Ulster, Republik Irland

Letter map: Clan vs Clare

Shared letters muted; letters that set Clan and Clare apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
Clan
5 ch
Clare

Role in the sentence - Clan and Clare

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Clan is anoun and Clareaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Clan is recorded at frequency rank #9,695, classified as anoun, pronounced [klaːn]. Clare is at rank #39,271, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 48966, this pair ranks #1,228,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Clan vs Clare

Shared letters: acl. Private to "Clan": n. Private to "Clare": er.

"Clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Clare" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Clancaln · cclan · clann · cllan · clna · lcan
  • Clarecalre · cclare · clarre · cllare · clrae · lcare

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Clan" and "Clare" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Clan" is a noun and "Clare" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Clan" vs "Clare" - which ranks higher?
"Clan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,695 in our German list, against #39,271 for "Clare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Clan" and "Clare".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Clan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Clare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,228,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Clan" and "Clare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Clare vs puzzles". 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 #1,228,954 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