Which to use
“clouds” and “crowds” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,485
- “clouds” frequency rank
- #8,653
- “crowds” frequency rank
- 14138
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clouds | crowds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cloud | plural of crowd |
Where the eye mixes clouds and crowds
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clouds vs crowds
A purely visual mix-up. clouds (/klaʊdz/) and crowds (/kɹaʊdz/) 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 14138, 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/. crowds is at rank #8,653, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaʊdz/.
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 14138, this pair ranks #471,841 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clouds vs crowds
Shared letters: cdos. Private to "clouds": lu. Private to "crowds": rw.
"clouds" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "crowds" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clouds" and "crowds" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "clouds" or "crowds"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clouds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crowds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #471,841 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clouds" and "crowds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creeds vs crowds". 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 #471,841 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.