Which to use
“clou” is a noun and “clouds” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,272
- “clou” frequency rank
- #42,404
- “clouds” frequency rank
- 81676
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clou | clouds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nagel | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs cloud |
Letter map: clou vs clouds
Shared letters muted; letters that set clou and clouds apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. clou runs 4 letters (CCVV) against clouds's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for clou / clouds
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clou is anoun and cloudsaverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “clou” sits inside “clouds”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81676, 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]. clouds is at rank #42,404, tagged as averb, 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 81676, this pair ranks #171,251 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clou vs clouds
Shared letters: clou. Private to "clou": -. Private to "clouds": ds.
"clou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "clouds" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clou" and "clouds" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "clou" vs "clouds" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "clou" and "clouds".
- Full dictionary entry for "clou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clouds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,251 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clou" and "clouds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clouds 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 #171,251 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.