clockedvscloggedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“clocked” and “clogged” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,930
“clocked” frequency rank
#20,064
“clogged” frequency rank
42994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clocked clogged
Definition Embroidered with clocks (i.e. figured decorations, not timepieces). Having an obstructed flow; blocked.

Letter map: clocked vs clogged

Shared letters muted; letters that set clocked and clogged apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. clocked and clogged follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
clocked
7 ch
clogged

Corpus notes: clocked and clogged

clocked and clogged 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 42994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clocked is recorded at frequency rank #22,930, classified as anadj. clogged is at rank #20,064, tagged as anadj.

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 42994, this pair ranks #244,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clocked vs clogged

Shared letters: cdelo. Private to "clocked": k. Private to "clogged": g.

"clocked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "clogged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clocked ← cclocked · clcoked · cllocked · cloccked · clocekd · clockde · clockedd · clockked
  • clogged ← cclogged · clgoged · cllogged · cloged · clogegd · cloggde · cloggedd · colgged

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clocked" for "clogged" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "clocked" vs "clogged" - which ranks higher?
"clogged" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,064 in our English list, against #22,930 for "clocked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "clocked" and "clogged".

  • Full dictionary entry for "clocked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clogged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clocked" and "clogged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clicker vs clocked". 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 #244,191 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