Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse people. I have found the following to be among them:
CLAMBER / CLAMOR
I was surprised to read in a novel that a character “clamored” out of a truck even though she seemed to be doing so without causing a ruckus. She was neither yelling nor shouting nor demanding anything of anyone. In fact, she wasn’t even speaking. So how could she be “clamoring”?
Although these two verbs have very similar pronunciations—okay, the same pronunciation for most of us—they have very different meanings. To clamber is to “climb awkwardly” while to clamor is to “demand loudly.”
INCORRECT: I managed to clamor over the rocks to higher ground without falling.
CORRECT: I managed to clamber over the rocks to higher ground without falling.
INCORRECT: He planned to clamber for higher teacher pay at the next school board meeting.
CORRECT: He planned to clamor for higher teacher pay at the next school board meeting.
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