Which to use
“cami” and “clam” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,646
- “cami” frequency rank
- #21,750
- “clam” frequency rank
- 70396
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cami | clam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A camisole. | A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clams (Spisula solidissima), and other species, possibly originally applied to clams of species Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve. |
Where the eye mixes cami and clam
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cami with clam
A purely visual mix-up. cami (/ˈkæmi/) and clam (/klæm/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cami is recorded at frequency rank #48,646, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæmi/. clam is at rank #21,750, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klæm/.
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 70396, this pair ranks #50,755 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cami vs clam
Shared letters: acm. Private to "cami": i. Private to "clam": l.
"cami" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "clam" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cami" for "clam" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cami" vs "clam" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cami" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,755 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cami" and "clam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cami vs coms". 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 #50,755 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.