People who work together on a project collaborate (share their labor); people who support your testimony as a witness corroborate (strengthen by confirming) it.

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Students lamenting the division of their schools into snobbish factions often misspell “clique” as “click.” In the original French, “clique” was synonymous with “claque”—an organized group of supporters at a theatrical event who tried to prompt positive audience response by clapping enthusiastically.

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Some company names which have a possessive form use an apostrophe before the S and some don’t: “McDonald’s” does and “Starbucks” doesn’t. “Macy’s” idiosyncratically uses a star for its apostrophe. Logo designers often feel omitting the apostrophe leads to a cleaner look, and there’s nothing you can do about it except to remember which is standard for a particular company. But people sometimes informally add an S to company names with which they are on familiar terms: “I work down at the Safeway’s now” (though in writing, the apostrophe is likely to be omitted). This is not standard usage.

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“Clench” and “clinch” are related words, but they are not interchangeable.

You clench a fist or teeth.

You clinch a deal or a victory. A reliable person comes through in the clinch.

Bent-over nails are sometimes said to be clenched, but are more often clinched.

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Because the TH in “clothes” is seldom pronounced distinctly, it is often misspelled “close.” Just remember the TH in “clothing,” where it is obvious. Clothes are made of cloth. Rags can also be cloths (without an E).

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A redundancy: “in proximity to”  means “close to.”

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“Cleanup” is usually a noun: “the cleanup of the toxic waste site will cost billions of dollars.” “Clean” is a verb in the phrase “clean up”: “You can go to the mall after you clean up your room.”

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“Climactic” and “anticlimactic” have to do with climaxes, “climatic” with climate. There is no such word as “anticlimatic.”

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“Classical” usually describes things from ancient Greece or Rome, or things from analogous ancient periods like classical Sanskrit poetry. The exception is classical music, which in the narrow sense is late 18th- and 19th-century music by the likes of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, and in the broader sense formal concert music of any period in the West or traditional formal music from other cultures, like classical ragas.

“Classic” has a much looser meaning, describing things that are outstanding examples of their kind, like a classic car or even a classic blunder.

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To clamor for something is to loudly demand it. An enthusiastic audience may clamor for an encore; and an angry populace may clamor for a leader’s resignation.

As its spelling hints, “clamber” is related to “climb.” To clamber is to climb strenuously. You can clamber up the steep bank of a river, or up a tower.

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