Use cloth for the noun — woven fabric, a tablecloth, or, in the phrase "a man of the cloth", the clergy. Use clothe for the verb — to dress someone or supply them with clothing, as in "the charity works to feed and clothe families in need". If you're naming a thing, it's cloth; if you're describing an action, it's clothe.
The core difference
Cloth is the fabric or the noun for material; clothe is the verb for dressing someone.
- cloth — noun, woven material: She bought several yards of cloth to make new curtains.
- cloth — noun, a tablecloth: They set a fresh white cloth on the table before the guests arrived.
- clothe — verb, to dress or supply with clothing: She struggled to clothe four growing children on a single income.
How to tell them apart
Cloth and clothe share an Old English root meaning to cling or stick, describing how fibres hold together in fabric. Cloth stayed a noun — the material itself, or a tablecloth laid out for a meal — while clothe became the verb for dressing someone or providing clothing.
The confusion tends to appear when a writer needs the verb and reaches for the shorter, more familiar word instead, producing a stray "to cloth someone". Remembering the silent e as the verb's marker — clothe, like the related word clothing — helps keep the two apart.
