Which to use
“cared” is a verb and “clawed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,942
- “cared” frequency rank
- #34,433
- “clawed” frequency rank
- 40375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cared | clawed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of care | having claws (of animals) |
Letter map: cared vs clawed
Shared letters muted; letters that set cared and clawed apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: cared vs clawed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cared is averb and clawedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cared is recorded at frequency rank #5,942, classified as averb, pronounced /kɛɹd/. clawed is at rank #34,433, tagged as anadj.
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 40375, this pair ranks #268,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cared vs clawed
Shared letters: acde. Private to "cared": r. Private to "clawed": lw.
"cared" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "clawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cared" and "clawed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cared" or "clawed"?
After this comparison
Pair "cared" vs "clawed" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "cared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clawed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cared" and "clawed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clawed vs crewed". 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 #268,168 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.