clownvscrownConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,204
“clown” frequency rank
#38,031
“crown” frequency rank
83235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clown crown
Definition Payaso. Corona. Joya o tocado que adorna la cabeza, en algunos casos símbolo del poder de un monarca.

Where the eye mixes clown and crown

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clown and crown follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
clown
5 ch
crown

Why the eye confuses clown with crown

A purely visual mix-up. clown ([ˈklõwn]) and crown (/kɹaʊn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “clown” becomes r in “crown”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clown is recorded at frequency rank #45,204, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklõwn]. crown is at rank #38,031, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaʊn/.

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 83235, this pair ranks #8,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clown vs crown

Shared letters: cnow. Private to "clown": l. Private to "crown": r.

"clown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "crown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clown ← cclown · cllown · clonw · clownn · clowwn · clwon · colwn · lcown
  • crown ← ccrown · corwn · cronw · crownn · crowwn · crrown · crwon · rcown

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clown" for "crown" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklõwn] versus /kɹaʊn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clown" or "crown"?
"crown" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,031 in our Spanish list, against #45,204 for "clown". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "clown" and "crown" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clown" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clown" and "crown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clown vs coin". 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 #8,336 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