Which to use
“clergy” and “cleric” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,511
- “clergy” frequency rank
- #17,568
- “cleric” frequency rank
- 28079
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clergy | cleric |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service. | A member of a clergy. |
Where the eye mixes clergy and cleric
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clergy (CCVCCV) and cleric (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses clergy with cleric
A purely visual mix-up. clergy (/ˈklɜːdʒi/) and cleric (/ˈklɛɹɪk/) 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 28079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clergy is recorded at frequency rank #10,511, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɜːdʒi/. cleric is at rank #17,568, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɛɹɪk/.
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 28079, this pair ranks #373,893 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clergy vs cleric
Shared letters: celr. Private to "clergy": gy. Private to "cleric": i.
"clergy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "cleric" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clergy" and "cleric" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "clergy" vs "cleric" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "clergy" and "cleric" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clergy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cleric" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #373,893 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clergy" and "cleric" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cheri vs cleric". 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 #373,893 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.