Which to use
“clone” is a noun and “come” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,518
- “clone” frequency rank
- #161
- “come” frequency rank
- 11679
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clone | come |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A living organism (originally a plant) produced asexually from a single ancestor, to which it is genetically identical. | To move nearer to the point of perspective. |
Where the eye mixes clone and come
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clone with come
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clone is /kloʊn/ while come is /kʌm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11679, 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/. come is at rank #161, tagged as averb, pronounced /kʌm/.
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 11679, this pair ranks #485,720 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clone vs come
Shared letters: ceo. Private to "clone": ln. Private to "come": m.
"clone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "come" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clone" and "come" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "clone" vs "come" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "come" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,720 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clone" and "come" 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 #485,720 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.