cloudvswellsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cloud is a noun, wells is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,927
“cloud” frequency rank
#17,186
“wells” frequency rank
23113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cloud wells
Definition eine abgegrenzte Masse aus sichtbarem Wasserdampf, welcher in der Luft schwebt 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs well

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cloud and wells apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cloud
5 ch
wells

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cloud is anoun and wellsaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cloud is recorded at frequency rank #5,927, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. wells is at rank #17,186, 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 23113, this pair ranks #1,865,619 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cloud vs wells

Shared letters: l. Private to "cloud": cdou. Private to "wells": esw.

"cloud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "wells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cloudccloud · clloud · clodu · cloudd · cluod · colud · lcoud
  • wellsewlls · wellss · welsl · wlels · wwells

Frequency comparison

cloud#5,927
wells#17,186

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cloud" and "wells" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cloud" is a noun and "wells" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cloud" or "wells"?
"cloud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,927 in our German list, against #17,186 for "wells". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cloud vs wells

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cloud”; for a verb, it's “wells”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cloud” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list