clapsvscrapsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,180
“claps” frequency rank
#36,939
“craps” frequency rank
70119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature claps craps
Definition plural of clap A game of gambling, or chance, where the players throw dice to make scores and avoid crap.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set claps and craps apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
claps
5 ch
craps

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. claps (/klæps/) and craps (/kɹæps/) 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 - l in “claps” becomes r in “craps”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70119, 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/. craps is at rank #36,939, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹæps/.

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 70119, this pair ranks #51,838 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of claps vs craps

Shared letters: acps. Private to "claps": l. Private to "craps": r.

"claps" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "craps" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clapscalps · cclaps · clapps · clapss · cllaps · clpas · lcaps
  • crapscarps · ccraps · crapps · crapss · crasp · crpas · crraps · rcaps

Frequency comparison

claps#33,180
craps#36,939

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "claps" and "craps" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/klæps/ versus /kɹæps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "claps" or "craps"?
"claps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,180 in our English list, against #36,939 for "craps". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering claps vs craps

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “claps” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list