chosevscloneWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,719
“chose” frequency rank
#11,518
“clone” frequency rank
14237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chose clone
Definition simple past of choose A living organism (originally a plant) produced asexually from a single ancestor, to which it is genetically identical.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chose and clone apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
chose
5 ch
clone

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

chose and clone form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chose is recorded at frequency rank #2,719, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃəʊz/. clone is at rank #11,518, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kloʊn/.

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 14237, this pair ranks #471,227 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

chose#2,719
clone#11,518

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chose" and "clone" be used interchangeably?
No, "chose" and "clone" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering chose vs clone

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “chose”; for a noun, it's “clone”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chose” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list