cloudvscoldConfusable pair

Quick tell: cloud is a noun, cold is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cloud” is a noun and “cold” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,927
“cloud” frequency rank
#18,848
“cold” frequency rank
24775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cloud cold
Definition eine abgegrenzte Masse aus sichtbarem Wasserdampf, welcher in der Luft schwebt kalt

Letter map: cloud vs cold

Shared letters muted; letters that set cloud and cold apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
cloud
4 ch
cold

Role in the sentence - cloud and cold

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cloud is anoun and coldanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cloud is recorded at frequency rank #5,927, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. cold is at rank #18,848, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kəʊld].

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 24775, this pair ranks #1,842,936 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cloud vs cold

Shared letters: cdlo. Private to "cloud": u. Private to "cold": -.

"cloud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "cold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cloudccloud · clloud · clodu · cloudd · cluod · colud · lcoud
  • coldccold · clod · codl · coldd · colld · ocld

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cloud" for "cold" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cloud" is a noun and "cold" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cloud" or "cold"?
"cloud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,927 in our German list, against #18,848 for "cold". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cloud" and "cold".

  • Full dictionary entry for "cloud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cold" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,842,936 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cloud" and "cold" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cali vs cold". 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 #1,842,936 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