clotvsclotheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: clot is a noun, clothe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“clot” is a noun and “clothe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,618
“clot” frequency rank
#39,249
“clothe” frequency rank
61867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clot clothe
Definition A thrombus, solidified mass of blood. To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set clot and clothe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
clot
6 ch
clothe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clot is /klɒt/ while clothe is /ˈkləʊð/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “clot” sits inside “clothe”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clot is recorded at frequency rank #22,618, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɒt/. 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 61867, this pair ranks #91,742 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clot vs clothe

Shared letters: clot. Private to "clot": -. Private to "clothe": eh.

"clot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "clothe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clotcclot · cllot · clott · clto · lcot
  • clothecclothe · cllothe · clohte · cloteh · clothhe · clotthe · cltohe · colthe

Frequency comparison

clot#22,618
clothe#39,249

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clot" and "clothe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clot" is a noun and "clothe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "clot" or "clothe"?
"clot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,618 in our English list, against #39,249 for "clothe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering clot vs clothe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “clot”; for a verb, it's “clothe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “clot” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list