Which to use
“clone” is a noun and “closes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,481
- “clone” frequency rank
- #24,153
- “closes” frequency rank
- 43634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clone | closes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ensemble des êtres vivants issus, par voie asexuée, d’un seul individu et possédant son patrimoine génétique. | Féminin pluriel de clos. |
Where the eye mixes clone and closes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clone with closes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clone is \klon\ while closes is \kloz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clone is recorded at frequency rank #19,481, classified as anoun, pronounced \klon\. closes is at rank #24,153, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kloz\.
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 43634, this pair ranks #216,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clone vs closes
Shared letters: celo. Private to "clone": n. Private to "closes": s.
"clone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "closes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clone" and "closes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "clone" vs "closes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clone" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "closes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #216,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clone" and "closes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "closes vs crosses". 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 #216,563 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.