Which to use
“clog” and “clough” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,215
- “clog” frequency rank
- #33,578
- “clough” frequency rank
- 62793
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clog | clough |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel. | A narrow valley; a cleft in a hillside; a ravine, glen, or gorge. |
Where the eye mixes clog and clough
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clog runs 4 letters (CCVC) against clough's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between clog and clough
A purely visual mix-up. clog (/klɒɡ/) and clough (/klʌf/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clog is recorded at frequency rank #29,215, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɒɡ/. clough is at rank #33,578, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klʌf/.
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 62793, this pair ranks #86,498 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clog vs clough
Shared letters: cglo. Private to "clog": -. Private to "clough": hu.
"clog" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clough" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clog" for "clough" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clog" or "clough"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clog" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clough" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,498 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clog" and "clough" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Clo vs clog". 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 #86,498 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.