clearance
/ˈklɪəɹən(t)s/
"clearance" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clearance” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,540 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,540
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of clearing or something (such as a space) cleared.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clearance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈklɪəɹən(t)s/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #7,540 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clearance” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for clearance is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈklɪəɹən(t)s/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,540 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for clearance, with forms such as "cclearance", "celarance", and "claerance". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "clarence", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From clear + -ance. The correct English form is clearance, spelled C-L-E-A-R-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The act of clearing or something (such as a space) cleared.
- 2The distance between two moving objects, especially between parts of a machine
- 3The height or width of a tunnel, bridge or other passage, or the distance between a vehicle and the walls or roof of such passage; a gap, headroom.
- 4A permission for a vehicle to proceed, or for a person to travel.
- 5A permission to have access to sensitive or secret documents or other information.
- 6A permission to use something, usually intellectual property, that is legally, but not otherwise, protected.
- 7A sale of merchandise, especially at significantly reduced prices, usually in order to make room for new merchandise or updated versions of the same merchandise; sometimes as a closeout.
- 8The settlement of transactions involving securities or means of payment such as checks by means of a clearing house.
- 9The removal of harmful substances from the blood; renal clearance.
- 10The act of potting all the remaining balls on a table at one visit.
- 11The act of kicking a ball away from the goal one is defending.
- 12Removal of pieces from a rank, file or diagonal so that a bishop, rook or queen is free to move along it.
- 13Clear or net profit.
- 14The first disposal in a chain that leaves the area of a stoppage, or a disposal that leaves the area of a stoppage itself.
- 15The act of leaving the area of a stoppage.
Etymology
From clear + -ance.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cclearance,celarance,claerance,cleaarnce,clearacne,clearancce,clearanec,clearannce,clearence,clearnace,clearrance,cleraance,cllearance,lcearance
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clearance - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "clearance"?
What does "clearance" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “clearance”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-E-A-R-A-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈklɪəɹən(t)s/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “clarence” - see the side-by-side comparison. clearance vs clarence
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.