Which to use
“clove” and “crone” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,327
- “clove” frequency rank
- #47,002
- “crone” frequency rank
- 79329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clove | crone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree. | An old woman. |
Where the eye mixes clove and crone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clove and crone follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: clove vs crone
A purely visual mix-up. clove (/kləʊv/) and crone (/kɹoʊn/) 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 79329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clove is recorded at frequency rank #32,327, classified as anoun, pronounced /kləʊv/. crone is at rank #47,002, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹoʊn/.
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 79329, this pair ranks #22,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clove vs crone
Shared letters: ceo. Private to "clove": lv. Private to "crone": nr.
"clove" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clove" and "crone" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "clove" or "crone" 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 "clove" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clove" and "crone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crone". 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 #22,365 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.