Which to use
“clown” and “crows” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,896
- “clown” frequency rank
- #15,596
- “crows” frequency rank
- 23492
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clown | crows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig. | plural of crow |
Where the eye mixes clown and crows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clown vs crows
A purely visual mix-up. clown (/klaʊn/) and crows (/kɹəʊz/) 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 23492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clown is recorded at frequency rank #7,896, classified as anoun, pronounced /klaʊn/. crows is at rank #15,596, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹəʊz/.
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 23492, this pair ranks #408,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clown vs crows
Shared letters: cow. Private to "clown": ln. Private to "crows": rs.
"clown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "crows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clown" for "crows" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "clown" or "crows" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clown" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clown" and "crows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crows". 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 #408,865 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.