ClarevscloseTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,271
“Clare” frequency rank
#20,880
“close” frequency rank
60151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Clare close
Definition ein County bzw. eine historische Grafschaft in der Provinz Ulster, Republik Irland die Sackgasse

Letter map: Clare vs close

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

5 ch
Clare
5 ch
close

Grammar separator: Clare vs close

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Clare is aname and closeanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Clare is recorded at frequency rank #39,271, classified as aname, pronounced […]. close is at rank #20,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kləʊz].

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 60151, this pair ranks #797,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Clare vs close

Shared letters: cel. Private to "Clare": ar. Private to "close": os.

"Clare" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Clarecalre · cclare · clarre · cllare · clrae · lcare
  • closecclose · cllose · cloes · closse · clsoe · colse · lcose

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Clare" and "close" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Clare" is a name and "close" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Clare" vs "close" - which ranks higher?
"close" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,880 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.

After this comparison

You've compared "Clare" and "close". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Clare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "close" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #797,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Clare" and "close" 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 #797,602 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