Which to use
“close” and “Clown” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,880
- “close” frequency rank
- #11,625
- “Clown” frequency rank
- 32505
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | close | Clown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Sackgasse | Person, die vor Publikum (vor allem im Zirkus) in auffälligen Kostümen auftritt und Späße macht |
Where the eye mixes close and Clown
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses close with Clown
A purely visual mix-up. close ([kləʊz]) and Clown ([klaʊ̯n]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
close is recorded at frequency rank #20,880, classified as anoun, pronounced [kləʊz]. Clown is at rank #11,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced [klaʊ̯n].
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 32505, this pair ranks #1,706,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of close vs Clown
Shared letters: clo. Private to "close": es. Private to "Clown": nw.
"close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "Clown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "close" for "Clown" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "close" or "Clown" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "close" and "Clown" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "close" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Clown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,706,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "close" and "Clown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clock vs close". 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 #1,706,155 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.