Which to use
“clothed” is a verb and “clouded” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,589
- “clothed” frequency rank
- #26,725
- “clouded” frequency rank
- 47314
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clothed | clouded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of clothe | Filled with clouds; cloudy. |
Where the eye mixes clothed and clouded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. clothed (CCVCCVC) and clouded (CCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: clothed vs clouded
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clothed is /ˈkləʊðd/ while clouded is /ˈklaʊdɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clothed is recorded at frequency rank #20,589, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkləʊðd/. clouded is at rank #26,725, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈklaʊdɪd/.
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 47314, this pair ranks #203,585 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clothed vs clouded
Shared letters: cdelo. Private to "clothed": ht. Private to "clouded": u.
"clothed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "clouded" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clothed" and "clouded" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "clothed" vs "clouded" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "clothed" and "clouded" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clothed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clouded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #203,585 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clothed" and "clouded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cloaked vs clouded". 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 #203,585 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.