Which to use
“case” and “clause” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #255
- “case” frequency rank
- #7,205
- “clause” frequency rank
- 7460
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | case | clause |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An actual event, situation, or fact. | A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance. |
Where the eye mixes case and clause
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses case with clause
A purely visual mix-up. case (/keɪs/) and clause (/klɔːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
case is recorded at frequency rank #255, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪs/. clause is at rank #7,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klɔːz/.
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 7460, this pair ranks #506,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of case vs clause
Shared letters: aces. Private to "case": -. Private to "clause": lu.
"case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "clause" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "case" for "clause" ever safe?
Frequency check: "case" vs "clause" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "case" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clause" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "case" and "clause" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaise vs clause". 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 #506,999 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.