Which to use
“clapped” is a verb and “clawed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,009
- “clapped” frequency rank
- #34,433
- “clawed” frequency rank
- 59442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clapped | clawed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of clap | having claws (of animals) |
Letter map: clapped vs clawed
Shared letters muted; letters that set clapped and clawed apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Grammar separator: clapped vs clawed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clapped is averb and clawedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clapped is recorded at frequency rank #25,009, classified as averb, pronounced /klæpt/. 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 59442, this pair ranks #106,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clapped vs clawed
Shared letters: acdel. Private to "clapped": p. Private to "clawed": w.
"clapped" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "clawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clapped" and "clawed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clapped" or "clawed" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "clapped" vs "clawed" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "clapped" 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 #106,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clapped" 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 #106,140 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.