Which to use
“clad” is a verb and “clawed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,302
- “clad” frequency rank
- #34,433
- “clawed” frequency rank
- 47735
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clad | clawed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of clothe | having claws (of animals) |
Letter map: clad vs clawed
Shared letters muted; letters that set clad and clawed apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: clad vs clawed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clad is averb and clawedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47735, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clad is recorded at frequency rank #13,302, classified as averb, pronounced /klæd/. 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 47735, this pair ranks #199,707 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clad vs clawed
Shared letters: acdl. Private to "clad": -. Private to "clawed": ew.
"clad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clad" and "clawed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "clad" vs "clawed" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "clad" and "clawed". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "clad" 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 #199,707 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clad" 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 #199,707 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.