Distinguishing Between Cloths & Clothes

The terms cloths and clothes are often confused, but there is a key difference between them. Cloths refer to fabrics, while clothes refer to garments.

Key Takeaways

• Cloths refer to fabrics or unstitched clothing material.
• Clothes refer to garments or stitched clothing material.
• The singular form of cloths is cloth, while the singular form of clothes is clothes.

What Does Cloths Mean

The word ‘cloths’ refers to unstitched clothing material or a piece of fabric, as demonstrated in these examples:

1. I bought cloths for the festival.
2. I purchased cloth material for my sister.

In the first example, the person bought unstitched clothing material for a festival. In the second example, the person purchased unstitched clothing material for their sister.

What Does Clothes Mean

The word ‘clothes’ refers to stitched clothing material, as shown in these examples:

1. I purchased plain clothes for the festival.
2. He has the habit of wearing white-colored clothes in his office.

In the first example, the person purchased stitched plain clothing for the festival. In the second example, the person has the habit of wearing white garments in their office.

The word ‘clothes’ is sometimes used to indicate any type of clothing in general, as in the sentence, “He distributed clothes to the poor during his birthday.” In this example, the person distributed various types of clothes to the poor on their birthday. The clothes they distributed might have included shirts, pants, trousers, towels, and more.

On the other hand, the word ‘cloths’ simply refers to unstitched material. This is the primary difference between the words ‘cloths’ and ‘clothes’.