Which to use
“churches” and “clutches” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,510
- “churches” frequency rank
- #23,493
- “clutches” frequency rank
- 28003
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | churches | clutches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of church | plural of clutch |
Where the eye mixes churches and clutches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. churches and clutches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses churches with clutches
A purely visual mix-up. churches (/ˈt͡ʃɝt͡ʃɪz/) and clutches (/ˈklʌt͡ʃɪz/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
churches is recorded at frequency rank #4,510, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɝt͡ʃɪz/. clutches is at rank #23,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklʌt͡ʃɪz/.
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 28003, this pair ranks #374,485 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of churches vs clutches
Shared letters: cehsu. Private to "churches": r. Private to "clutches": lt.
"churches" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC · "clutches" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "churches" for "clutches" ever safe?
Which is more common, "churches" or "clutches"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "churches" and "clutches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "churches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clutches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,485 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "churches" and "clutches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clutches vs crunches". 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 #374,485 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.