Which to use
“clue” and “clues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,306
- “clue” frequency rank
- #9,300
- “clues” frequency rank
- 14606
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clue | clues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide. | plural of clue |
Where the eye mixes clue and clues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clue runs 4 letters (CCVV) against clues's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between clue and clues
A purely visual mix-up. clue (/kluː/) and clues (/kluːz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “clue” sits inside “clues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clue is recorded at frequency rank #5,306, classified as anoun, pronounced /kluː/. clues is at rank #9,300, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kluːz/.
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 14606, this pair ranks #469,016 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clue vs clues
Shared letters: celu. Private to "clue": -. Private to "clues": s.
"clue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "clues" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clue" and "clues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clue" or "clues" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "clue" and "clues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #469,016 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clue" and "clues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cates vs clues". 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 #469,016 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.