Which to use
“clash” and “clause” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,430
- “clash” frequency rank
- #7,205
- “clause” frequency rank
- 14635
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clash | clause |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A loud sound, like the crashing together of metal objects; a crash. | A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance. |
Where the eye mixes clash and clause
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clash with clause
A purely visual mix-up. clash (/klaʃ/) and clause (/klɔːz/) 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 14635, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clash is recorded at frequency rank #7,430, classified as anoun, pronounced /klaʃ/. clause is at rank #7,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klɔːz/.
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 14635, this pair ranks #468,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clash vs clause
Shared letters: acls. Private to "clash": h. Private to "clause": eu.
"clash" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "clause" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clash" and "clause" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clash" or "clause"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "clash" and "clause" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clash" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clause" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #468,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clash" and "clause" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clack vs clash". 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 #468,846 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.