callusvsClausTell them apart

Quick tell: callus is a noun, Claus is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“callus” is a noun and “Claus” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,517
“callus” frequency rank
#15,367
“Claus” frequency rank
62884
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature callus Claus
Definition A hardened area of the skin (especially on the foot or hand) caused by repeated friction, wear or use. A male given name from Dutch or from German [in turn from Ancient Greek].

Letter map: callus vs Claus

Shared letters muted; letters that set callus and Claus apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. callus runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Claus's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
callus
5 ch
Claus

Role in the sentence - callus and Claus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: callus is anoun and Clausaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

callus is recorded at frequency rank #47,517, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæləs/. Claus is at rank #15,367, tagged as aname.

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 62884, this pair ranks #86,051 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of callus vs Claus

Shared letters: aclsu. Private to "callus": -. Private to "Claus": -.

"callus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Claus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • callus ← acllus · callsu · calluss · caluls · ccallus · clalus
  • Claus ← calus · cclaus · clasu · clauss · cllaus · cluas · lcaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "callus" and "Claus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "callus" is a noun and "Claus" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "callus" or "Claus" show up more?
"Claus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,367 in our English list, against #47,517 for "callus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "callus" vs "Claus" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "callus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Claus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,051 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "callus" and "Claus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "callus vs Cally". 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 #86,051 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list