clipvsclonTell them apart

Which to use

“clip” and “clon” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,333
“clip” frequency rank
#15,309
“clon” frequency rank
27642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clip clon
Definition Objeto metálico con el cual se pueden agrupar documentos impresos.^([definición imprecisa]) Animal, y en la ciencia ficción también ser humano, reproducido perfectamente como una copia fiel de otro individuo, a partir de una célula somática única, y del material genético contenida en ella, en lugar de la reproducción sexual que produce individuos que varían genéticamente con respecto a sus padres.

Where the eye mixes clip and clon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
clip
4 ch
clon

Why the eye confuses clip with clon

A purely visual mix-up. clip ([ˈklip]) and clon ([ˈklõn]) 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 27642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clip is recorded at frequency rank #12,333, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklip]. clon is at rank #15,309, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklõn].

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 27642, this pair ranks #225,857 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clip vs clon

Shared letters: cl. Private to "clip": ip. Private to "clon": no.

"clip" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "clon" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clipcclip · cilp · clipp · cllip · clpi · lcip
  • cloncclon · cllon · clno · clonn · coln · lcon

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clip" and "clon" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklip] versus [ˈklõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "clip" or "clon" show up more?
"clip" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,333 in our Spanish list, against #15,309 for "clon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clip" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #225,857 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clip" and "clon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clon vs culona". 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 #225,857 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list