clearvscleverWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“clear” and “clever” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,240
“clear” frequency rank
#10,061
“clever” frequency rank
37301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clear clever
Definition klar schlau, gewitzt

Where the eye mixes clear and clever

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
clear
6 ch
clever

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. clear ([klɪə]) and clever ([ˈklɛvɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clear is recorded at frequency rank #27,240, classified as anadj, pronounced [klɪə]. clever is at rank #10,061, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklɛvɐ].

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 37301, this pair ranks #1,593,742 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of clear vs clever

Shared letters: celr. Private to "clear": a. Private to "clever": v.

"clear" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "clever" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clearcclear · celar · claer · clearr · clera · cllear · lcear
  • clevercclever · celver · cleevr · cleverr · clevre · clevver · cllever · clveer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clear" and "clever" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([klɪə] versus [ˈklɛvɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clear" or "clever"?
"clever" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,061 in our German list, against #27,240 for "clear". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list