Which to use
“clawed” is an adjective and “cleared” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,433
- “clawed” frequency rank
- #5,111
- “cleared” frequency rank
- 39544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clawed | cleared |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | having claws (of animals) | simple past and past participle of clear |
Letter map: clawed vs cleared
Shared letters muted; letters that set clawed and cleared apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - clawed and cleared
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clawed is anadjective and clearedaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clawed is recorded at frequency rank #34,433, classified as anadj. cleared is at rank #5,111, tagged as averb, pronounced /klɪɹd/.
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 39544, this pair ranks #275,700 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clawed vs cleared
Shared letters: acdel. Private to "clawed": w. Private to "cleared": r.
"clawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "cleared" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clawed" for "cleared" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clawed" or "cleared"?
Useful next steps
Pair "clawed" vs "cleared" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "clawed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cleared" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #275,700 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clawed" and "cleared" 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 #275,700 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.