classvsclearsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#430
“class” frequency rank
#13,685
“clears” frequency rank
14115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature class clears
Definition A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes. A relatively strong, coarse flour that has only been sifted once.

Letter map: class vs clears

Shared letters muted; letters that set class and clears apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
class
6 ch
clears

Pair insight - class / clears

class and clears are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

class is recorded at frequency rank #430, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɑːs/. clears is at rank #13,685, tagged as anoun.

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 14115, this pair ranks #471,962 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of class vs clears

Shared letters: acls. Private to "class": -. Private to "clears": er.

"class" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "clears" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • classcalss · cclass · clas · cllass · clsas · lcass
  • clearscclears · celars · claers · clearrs · clearss · cleasr · cleras · cllears

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "class" for "clears" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "class" vs "clears" - which ranks higher?
"class" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #430 in our English list, against #13,685 for "clears". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "class" vs "clears" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "class" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clears" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #471,962 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "class" and "clears" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clary vs clears". 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 #471,962 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