Cloth vs Clothes at a glance
- cloth
/klɒθ/ · noun
Material made from cotton, wool and so on, or a piece of it used for cleaning.
- Wipe the table with a damp cloth.
- The bag is made of strong cloth.
- clothes
/kləʊðz/ · noun (plural)
The things you wear, like shirts, trousers and dresses.
- I need to buy some new clothes for work.
- Put your dirty clothes in the washing machine.
How to remember it
Clothes rhymes with 'goes' (many people just say /kləʊz/). Cloth rhymes with 'moth'. If you can wear it, it's clothes.
Good to know
Clothes has no singular form; for one item, say "a piece of clothing" or name it (a shirt). The plural of cloth is cloths (/klɒθs/), meaning pieces of material.
Common mistakes
Wrong: I bought a new clothes yesterday.
Right: I bought some new clothes yesterday.
Wrong: She packed her cloths for the trip.
Right: She packed her clothes for the trip.
Quick quiz
1.Clean your glasses with a soft .
2.What should I wear to the wedding?
3.Kids grow so fast that their don't fit after a year.
Pick the right word for each gap.