Which to use
“claps” and “clips” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,180
- “claps” frequency rank
- #6,664
- “clips” frequency rank
- 39844
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | claps | clips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of clap | plural of clip |
Where the eye mixes claps and clips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between claps and clips
A purely visual mix-up. claps (/klæps/) and clips (/klɪps/) 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 a single letter - a in “claps” becomes i in “clips”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
claps is recorded at frequency rank #33,180, classified as anoun, pronounced /klæps/. clips is at rank #6,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klɪps/.
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 39844, this pair ranks #272,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of claps vs clips
Shared letters: clps. Private to "claps": a. Private to "clips": i.
"claps" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "clips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "claps" and "clips" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "claps" vs "clips" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "claps" and "clips" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "claps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #272,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "claps" and "clips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clack vs claps". 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 #272,989 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.