Which to use
“clothed” and “clutched” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,589
- “clothed” frequency rank
- #39,250
- “clutched” frequency rank
- 59839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clothed | clutched |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of clothe | simple past and past participle of clutch |
Where the eye mixes clothed and clutched
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. clothed runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against clutched's 8 (CCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses clothed with clutched
A purely visual mix-up. clothed (/ˈkləʊðd/) and clutched (/klʌt͡ʃt/) 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 59839, 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/. clutched is at rank #39,250, tagged as averb, pronounced /klʌt͡ʃt/.
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 59839, this pair ranks #103,795 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clothed vs clutched
Shared letters: cdehlt. Private to "clothed": o. Private to "clutched": u.
"clothed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "clutched" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clothed" and "clutched" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "clothed" vs "clutched" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clothed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clutched" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,795 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clothed" and "clutched" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clutched vs crunched". 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 #103,795 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.