clouvscloudConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#39,272
“clou” frequency rank
#5,927
“cloud” frequency rank
45199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clou cloud
Definition Nagel eine abgegrenzte Masse aus sichtbarem Wasserdampf, welcher in der Luft schwebt

Letter map: clou vs cloud

Shared letters muted; letters that set clou and cloud apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

4 ch
clou
5 ch
cloud

Corpus notes: clou and cloud

clou and cloud are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “clou” sits inside “cloud”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clou is recorded at frequency rank #39,272, classified as anoun, pronounced [klu]. cloud is at rank #5,927, tagged as anoun, 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 45199, this pair ranks #1,361,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clou vs cloud

Shared letters: clou. Private to "clou": -. Private to "cloud": d.

"clou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "cloud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cloucclou · cllou · cluo · colu · lcou
  • cloudccloud · clloud · clodu · cloudd · cluod · colud · lcoud

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clou" and "cloud" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “clou” sits inside “cloud”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "clou" vs "cloud" - which ranks higher?
"cloud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,927 in our German list, against #39,272 for "clou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "clou" vs "cloud" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cloud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,361,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clou" and "cloud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clock vs clou". 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 #1,361,128 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