clothe
/ˈkləʊð/
"clothe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clothe” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #39,249. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #39,249
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-clothe · clothe · English
clothe · rank #39,249 · 9 variants · 10 confusables
- FREQ-MID #39,249
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 10 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cloister
Nearest frequency peer: cloister (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “clothe”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- chroma
chroma
60,755 corpus weight
- claret
claret
60,754 corpus weight
- cloister
cloister
60,753 corpus weight
- clothe
clothe
60,752 corpus weight
- clutched
clutched
60,751 corpus weight
- cochlear
cochlear
60,750 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “clothe” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | clothe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkləʊð/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #39,249 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clothe” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around clothe (IPA /ˈkləʊð/), averb. Corpus frequency is #39,249 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for clothe, with forms such as "cclothe", "cllothe", and "clohte". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "cote", "clove", "cloths", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English clothen, from Old English *clāþian (“to clothe”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþōną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to adhere to, stick”). Cognate with Dutch kleden, German kleiden, Swedish kläda, after apocope klä. See also… The correct English form is clothe, spelled C-L-O-T-H-E.
Definition
- 1To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing.
- 2To cover or invest, as if with a garment.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how clothe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
to feed and clothe a family; to clothe oneself extravagantly
Go with me to clothe you as becomes you.
Etymology
From Middle English clothen, from Old English *clāþian (“to clothe”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþōną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to adhere to, stick”). Cognate with Dutch kleden, German kleiden, Swedish kläda, after apocope klä. See also cloth, clad.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cclothe
- cllothe
- clohte
- cloteh
- clothhe
- clotthe
- cltohe
- colthe
- lcothe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clothe - 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 "clothe"?
What does "clothe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "clothe"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "clothe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "clothe". Here's where to go from here.
- "clothe" maps to 10 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "cote". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #39,249 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.