Which to use
“clog” and “clove” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,215
- “clog” frequency rank
- #32,327
- “clove” frequency rank
- 61542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clog | clove |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel. | A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree. |
Where the eye mixes clog and clove
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clog runs 4 letters (CCVC) against clove's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between clog and clove
A purely visual mix-up. clog (/klɒɡ/) and clove (/kləʊv/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61542, 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/. clove is at rank #32,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kləʊv/.
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 61542, this pair ranks #93,661 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clog vs clove
Shared letters: clo. Private to "clog": g. Private to "clove": ev.
"clog" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clove" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clog" for "clove" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clog" vs "clove" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "clove" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,661 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clog" and "clove" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Clo vs clove". 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 #93,661 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.