Which to use
“cloths” and “clowns” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,705
- “cloths” frequency rank
- #14,920
- “clowns” frequency rank
- 40625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cloths | clowns |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cloth | plural of clown |
Where the eye mixes cloths and clowns
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cloths and clowns follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cloths vs clowns
A purely visual mix-up. cloths (/klɒθs/) and clowns (/klaʊnz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cloths is recorded at frequency rank #25,705, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɒθs/. clowns is at rank #14,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klaʊnz/.
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 40625, this pair ranks #265,851 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cloths vs clowns
Shared letters: clos. Private to "cloths": ht. Private to "clowns": nw.
"cloths" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "clowns" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cloths" for "clowns" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "cloths" or "clowns" show up more?
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 "cloths" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clowns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,851 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cloths" and "clowns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Clos vs cloths". 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 #265,851 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.