clonevsclownWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,243
“clone” frequency rank
#41,399
“clown” frequency rank
54642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clone clown
Definition reprodução fiel e idêntica de algo ou alguém real ou virtual palhaço

Where the eye mixes clone and clown

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
clone
5 ch
clown

Look-alike desk: clone vs clown

A purely visual mix-up. clone (/ˈklɔ.nɨ/) and clown (/klun/) 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 54642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clone is recorded at frequency rank #13,243, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɔ.nɨ/. clown is at rank #41,399, 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 54642, this pair ranks #11,120 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clone vs clown

Shared letters: clno. Private to "clone": e. Private to "clown": w.

"clone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "clown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clonecclone · cllone · clnoe · cloen · clonne · colne · lcone
  • clowncclown · cllown · clonw · clownn · clowwn · clwon · colwn · lcown

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clone" and "clown" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈklɔ.nɨ/ versus /klun/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "clone" or "clown" show up more?
"clone" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,243 in our Portuguese list, against #41,399 for "clown". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clone" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,120 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clone" and "clown" 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 #11,120 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list