What is the difference between "clothes" and "clothing"?
Do some google I find that clothes work like objects like:
- You should pack your clothes. → Yes
- You should pack your clothing. → No
Can you tell me the main difference between clothing and clothes?
Solution 1:
Clothes are those items you wear.
Clothing is pretty much the same, but it seems it can refer to a special type of clothes (the type it refers to depends on the context).
You can see a useful note on the OALD that I'll paste here for future reference:
Clothes or clothing?
Clothing is more formal than clothes and is used especially to mean
‘a particular type of clothes’
. There is no singular form of clothes or clothing: a piece/an item/an article of clothing is used to talk about one thing that you wear such as a dress or shirt.
Solution 2:
There is really no difference. They are synonyms when used in that context.
The only real difference is that clothing may be used in a gerund phrase:
Clothing the poor was Martin's principal objective.
Solution 3:
If there is a difference, it is very slight. Both would be considered acceptable, but some might argue that "clothing" generally denotes a general category, whereas "clothes" indicates a specific set of clothing.