Which to use
“clumsy” and “crummy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,199
- “clumsy” frequency rank
- #48,165
- “crummy” frequency rank
- 64364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clumsy | crummy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous. | Bad; poor. |
Where the eye mixes clumsy and crummy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clumsy and crummy follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between clumsy and crummy
A purely visual mix-up. clumsy (/ˈklʌmzi/) and crummy (/ˈkɹʌmi/) 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 64364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clumsy is recorded at frequency rank #16,199, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈklʌmzi/. crummy is at rank #48,165, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɹʌmi/.
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 64364, this pair ranks #78,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clumsy vs crummy
Shared letters: cmuy. Private to "clumsy": ls. Private to "crummy": r.
"clumsy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "crummy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clumsy" for "crummy" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clumsy" vs "crummy" - which ranks higher?
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 "clumsy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crummy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #78,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clumsy" and "crummy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crummy vs crump". 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 #78,123 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.