claimsvsclampTell them apart

Which to use

“claims” and “clamp” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,447
“claims” frequency rank
#15,985
“clamp” frequency rank
17432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature claims clamp
Definition plural of claim A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things that are apart together.

Where the eye mixes claims and clamp

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
claims
5 ch
clamp

Look-alike desk: claims vs clamp

A purely visual mix-up. claims (/kleɪmz/) and clamp (/ˈklæmp/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

claims is recorded at frequency rank #1,447, classified as anoun, pronounced /kleɪmz/. clamp is at rank #15,985, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklæmp/.

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 17432, this pair ranks #451,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of claims vs clamp

Shared letters: aclm. Private to "claims": is. Private to "clamp": p.

"claims" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "clamp" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • claimscalims · cclaims · claimms · claimss · claism · clamis · cliams · cllaims
  • clampcalmp · cclamp · clammp · clampp · clapm · cllamp · clmap · lcamp

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "claims" and "clamp" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kleɪmz/ versus /ˈklæmp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "claims" or "clamp"?
"claims" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,447 in our English list, against #15,985 for "clamp". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "claims" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clamp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #451,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "claims" and "clamp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cami vs clamp". 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 #451,461 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list