Which to use
“clays” and “craps” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,382
- “clays” frequency rank
- #36,939
- “craps” frequency rank
- 74321
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clays | craps |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of clay | A game of gambling, or chance, where the players throw dice to make scores and avoid crap. |
Where the eye mixes clays and craps
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clays (CCVVC) and craps (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between clays and craps
A purely visual mix-up. clays (/kleɪz/) and craps (/kɹæps/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clays is recorded at frequency rank #37,382, classified as anoun, pronounced /kleɪz/. craps is at rank #36,939, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹæps/.
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 74321, this pair ranks #36,727 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clays vs craps
Shared letters: acs. Private to "clays": ly. Private to "craps": pr.
"clays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "craps" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clays" for "craps" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clays" vs "craps" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clays" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "craps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,727 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clays" and "craps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Crabb vs craps". 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 #36,727 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.