Which to use
“clouds” and “cords” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,485
- “clouds” frequency rank
- #18,281
- “cords” frequency rank
- 23766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clouds | cords |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cloud | plural of cord |
Where the eye mixes clouds and cords
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clouds and cords
A purely visual mix-up. clouds (/klaʊdz/) and cords (/kɔːdz/) 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 23766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clouds is recorded at frequency rank #5,485, classified as anoun, pronounced /klaʊdz/. cords is at rank #18,281, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔːdz/.
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 23766, this pair ranks #406,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clouds vs cords
Shared letters: cdos. Private to "clouds": lu. Private to "cords": r.
"clouds" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "cords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clouds" and "cords" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clouds" or "cords" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "clouds" and "cords" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clouds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cords" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clouds" and "cords" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coms vs cords". 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 #406,934 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.