ClarevsClariceConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,020
“Clare” frequency rank
#46,983
“Clarice” frequency rank
59003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Clare Clarice
Definition A county of Ireland. A female given name from French.

Where the eye mixes Clare and Clarice

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Clare runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against Clarice's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Clare
7 ch
Clarice

Look-alike desk: Clare vs Clarice

A purely visual mix-up. Clare (/klɛə/) and Clarice (/ˈklæ.ɹɪs/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Clare is recorded at frequency rank #12,020, classified as aname, pronounced /klɛə/. Clarice is at rank #46,983, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈklæ.ɹɪs/.

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 59003, this pair ranks #108,895 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Clare vs Clarice

Shared letters: acelr. Private to "Clare": -. Private to "Clarice": i.

"Clare" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Clarice" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Clare ← calre · cclare · clarre · cllare · clrae · lcare
  • Clarice ← calrice · cclarice · clairce · clarcie · claricce · clariec · clarrice · cllarice

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Clare" for "Clarice" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/klɛə/ versus /ˈklæ.ɹɪs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Clare" vs "Clarice" - which ranks higher?
"Clare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,020 in our English list, against #46,983 for "Clarice". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Clare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Clarice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,895 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Clare" and "Clarice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caprice vs Clarice". 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 #108,895 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