Which to use
“claw” is a noun and “clawed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,116
- “claw” frequency rank
- #34,433
- “clawed” frequency rank
- 47549
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | claw | clawed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A curved, pointed, horny projection on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird. | having claws (of animals) |
Letter map: claw vs clawed
Shared letters muted; letters that set claw and clawed apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Role in the sentence - claw and clawed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: claw is anoun and clawedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “claw” sits inside “clawed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
claw is recorded at frequency rank #13,116, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɔ/. clawed is at rank #34,433, tagged as anadj.
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 47549, this pair ranks #201,439 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of claw vs clawed
Shared letters: aclw. Private to "claw": -. Private to "clawed": de.
"claw" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "claw" for "clawed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "claw" vs "clawed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "claw" and "clawed".
- Full dictionary entry for "claw" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clawed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,439 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "claw" and "clawed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clawed vs crewed". 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 #201,439 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.