cloakingvscloningWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,848
“cloaking” frequency rank
#21,470
“cloning” frequency rank
67318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cloaking cloning
Definition The act of wrapping or covering with a cloak. present participle and gerund of clone

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cloaking and cloning apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
cloaking
7 ch
cloning

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cloaking is anoun and cloningaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cloaking is recorded at frequency rank #45,848, classified as anoun. cloning is at rank #21,470, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkloʊnɪŋ/.

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 67318, this pair ranks #63,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cloaking vs cloning

Shared letters: cgilno. Private to "cloaking": ak. Private to "cloning": -.

"cloaking" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC  ·  "cloning" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cloakingccloaking · claoking · clloaking · cloaikng · cloakign · cloakingg · cloakinng · cloakking
  • cloningccloning · clloning · clnoing · cloinng · clonign · cloningg · cloninng · clonnig

Frequency comparison

cloaking#45,848
cloning#21,470

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cloaking" and "cloning" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cloaking" is a noun and "cloning" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cloaking" or "cloning"?
"cloning" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,470 in our English list, against #45,848 for "cloaking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cloaking vs cloning

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cloaking”; for a verb, it's “cloning”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cloaking” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list