Which to use
“close” and “clothe” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #431
- “close” frequency rank
- #39,249
- “clothe” frequency rank
- 39680
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | close | clothe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. | To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing. |
Where the eye mixes close and clothe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: close vs clothe
A purely visual mix-up. close (/kləʊz/) and clothe (/ˈkləʊð/) 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 39680, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
close is recorded at frequency rank #431, classified as averb, pronounced /kləʊz/. clothe is at rank #39,249, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkləʊð/.
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 39680, this pair ranks #274,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of close vs clothe
Shared letters: celo. Private to "close": s. Private to "clothe": ht.
"close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "clothe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "close" and "clothe" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "close" or "clothe"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "close" and "clothe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "close" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clothe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #274,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "close" and "clothe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clothe 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 #274,504 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.