Which to use
“clover” and “cloves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,041
- “clover” frequency rank
- #26,373
- “cloves” frequency rank
- 44414
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clover | cloves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A plant of the genus Trifolium with leaves usually divided into three (rarely four) leaflets and with white or red flowers. | plural of clove |
Where the eye mixes clover and cloves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clover and cloves
A purely visual mix-up. clover (/ˈkləʊ.və(ɹ)/) and cloves (/kləʊvz/) 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 a single letter - r in “clover” becomes s in “cloves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44414, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clover is recorded at frequency rank #18,041, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkləʊ.və(ɹ)/. cloves is at rank #26,373, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kləʊvz/.
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 44414, this pair ranks #230,772 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clover vs cloves
Shared letters: celov. Private to "clover": r. Private to "cloves": s.
"clover" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "cloves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clover" for "cloves" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clover" or "cloves"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "clover" and "cloves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clover" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cloves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,772 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clover" and "cloves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cleve vs cloves". 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 #230,772 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.