Which to use
“cleft” and “cleve” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,109
- “cleft” frequency rank
- #47,535
- “cleve” frequency rank
- 78644
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cleft | cleve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An opening, fissure, or V-shaped indentation made by or as if by splitting. | A room; chamber. |
Letter map: cleft vs cleve
Shared letters muted; letters that set cleft and cleve apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Corpus notes: cleft and cleve
cleft and cleve 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cleft is recorded at frequency rank #31,109, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɛft/. cleve is at rank #47,535, 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 78644, this pair ranks #24,078 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cleft vs cleve
Shared letters: cel. Private to "cleft": ft. Private to "cleve": v.
"cleft" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cleve" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cleft" for "cleve" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cleft" or "cleve"?
Useful next steps
Pair "cleft" vs "cleve" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "cleft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cleve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,078 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cleft" and "cleve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cleaved vs cleve". 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 #24,078 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.