Which to use
“clack” and “claps” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,381
- “clack” frequency rank
- #33,180
- “claps” frequency rank
- 79561
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clack | claps |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk. | plural of clap |
Where the eye mixes clack and claps
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clack and claps follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses clack with claps
A purely visual mix-up. clack (/klæk/) and claps (/klæps/) 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 79561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clack is recorded at frequency rank #46,381, classified as anoun, pronounced /klæk/. claps is at rank #33,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klæps/.
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 79561, this pair ranks #21,787 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clack vs claps
Shared letters: acl. Private to "clack": k. Private to "claps": ps.
"clack" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "claps" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clack" and "claps" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clack" or "claps" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "claps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,787 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clack" and "claps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clack vs clink". 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 #21,787 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.