Which to use
“clears” is a noun and “cleave” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,685
- “clears” frequency rank
- #34,831
- “cleave” frequency rank
- 48516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clears | cleave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A relatively strong, coarse flour that has only been sifted once. | To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument. |
Letter map: clears vs cleave
Shared letters muted; letters that set clears and cleave apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Part-of-speech tell for clears / cleave
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clears is anoun and cleaveaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clears is recorded at frequency rank #13,685, classified as anoun. cleave is at rank #34,831, tagged as averb, pronounced /kliːv/.
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 48516, this pair ranks #192,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clears vs cleave
Shared letters: acel. Private to "clears": rs. Private to "cleave": v.
"clears" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "cleave" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clears" and "cleave" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clears" or "cleave" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "clears" vs "cleave" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "clears" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cleave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #192,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clears" and "cleave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cleave vs cleaved". 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 #192,315 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.