clemvsCLPTell them apart

Quick tell: clem is a verb, CLP is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“clem” is a verb and “CLP” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,597
“clem” frequency rank
#43,572
“CLP” frequency rank
73169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clem CLP
Definition To be hungry; starve. Initialism of Constituency Labour Party.

Where the eye mixes clem and CLP

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
clem
3 ch
CLP

Look-alike desk: clem vs CLP

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clem is /klɛm/ while CLP is /siːɛlˈpiː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clem is recorded at frequency rank #29,597, classified as averb, pronounced /klɛm/. CLP is at rank #43,572, tagged as anoun, pronounced /siːɛlˈpiː/.

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 73169, this pair ranks #40,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clem vs CLP

Shared letters: cl. Private to "clem": em. Private to "CLP": p.

"clem" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "CLP" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clemcclem · celm · clemm · cllem · clme · lcem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clem" for "CLP" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clem" is a verb and "CLP" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "clem" or "CLP" show up more?
"clem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,597 in our English list, against #43,572 for "CLP". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "clem" and "CLP" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CLP" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clem" and "CLP" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs CLP". 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 #40,519 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list