Which to use
“clergy” is a noun and “clingy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,511
- “clergy” frequency rank
- #33,577
- “clingy” frequency rank
- 44088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clergy | clingy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service. | Having a tendency to cling. |
Where the eye mixes clergy and clingy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clergy and clingy follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between clergy and clingy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clergy is /ˈklɜːdʒi/ while clingy is /ˈklɪŋi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44088, 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/. clingy is at rank #33,577, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈklɪŋi/.
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 44088, this pair ranks #233,819 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clergy vs clingy
Shared letters: cgly. Private to "clergy": er. Private to "clingy": in.
"clergy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "clingy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clergy" and "clingy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clergy" or "clingy" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clergy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clingy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,819 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clergy" and "clingy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clingy vs clink". 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 #233,819 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.