Which to use
“clone” and “clowns” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,481
- “clone” frequency rank
- #15,329
- “clowns” frequency rank
- 34810
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clone | clowns |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ensemble des êtres vivants issus, par voie asexuée, d’un seul individu et possédant son patrimoine génétique. | Pluriel de clown. |
Where the eye mixes clone and clowns
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clone vs clowns
A purely visual mix-up. clone (\klon\) and clowns (\klun\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34810, 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\. clowns is at rank #15,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klun\.
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 34810, this pair ranks #281,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clone vs clowns
Shared letters: clno. Private to "clone": e. Private to "clowns": sw.
"clone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "clowns" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clone" for "clowns" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clone" or "clowns"?
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 "clowns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clone" and "clowns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clone vs conde". 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 #281,198 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.