Clovis
/ˈkloʊvɪs/
"clovis" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Clovis” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #34,832 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #34,832
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A male given name borne by several prominent people in Frankish/French and Germanic history.
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 | Clovis |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈkloʊvɪs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #34,832 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Clovis” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Clovis is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkloʊvɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #34,832 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Clovis, with forms such as "cclovis", "cllovis", and "cloivs". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "COVID", "clowns", "Clos", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French Clovis, from Frankish *Hlōdowig, the same Germanic source as French Louis, Dutch Lodewijk and German Ludwig, see there for further information. Doublet of Louis and Ludwig. The New Mexican city was named after a Frankish king; the Nativ… The correct English form is Clovis, spelled C-L-O-V-I-S.
Definition
- 1A male given name borne by several prominent people in Frankish/French and Germanic history.
- 2A city, the county seat of Curry County, in central northeastern New Mexico, United States.
- 3A city in Fresno County, California, United States.
- 4A particular site that contains evidence of an early Native American culture; the culture associated with this site.
Etymology
Borrowed from French Clovis, from Frankish *Hlōdowig, the same Germanic source as French Louis, Dutch Lodewijk and German Ludwig, see there for further information. Doublet of Louis and Ludwig. The New Mexican city was named after a Frankish king; the Native American site and culture were named after this city.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cclovis,cllovis,cloivs,cloviss,clovsi,clovvis,clvois,colvis,lcovis
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Clovis - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "Clovis"?
What does "Clovis" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Clovis"?
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Using “Clovis”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-O-V-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkloʊvɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “COVID” - see the side-by-side comparison. Clovis vs COVID
- 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.