Which to use
“clone” and “clowns” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,518
- “clone” frequency rank
- #14,920
- “clowns” frequency rank
- 26438
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clone | clowns |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A living organism (originally a plant) produced asexually from a single ancestor, to which it is genetically identical. | plural of clown |
Where the eye mixes clone and clowns
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clone vs clowns
A purely visual mix-up. clone (/kloʊn/) and clowns (/klaʊnz/) 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 26438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clone is recorded at frequency rank #11,518, classified as anoun, pronounced /kloʊn/. clowns is at rank #14,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klaʊnz/.
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 26438, this pair ranks #386,693 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clone vs clowns
Shared letters: clno. Private to "clone": e. Private to "clowns": sw.
"clone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "clowns" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clone" for "clowns" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clone" or "clowns"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clone" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clowns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,693 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clone" and "clowns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Clo vs clone". 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 #386,693 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.