The difference between 'cloth','clothe' and 'clothes'

In my last post, I talked about the wrong use of 'clothe' to mean clothes on the poster pasted outside a tailor shop in Hat Yai,Thailand.

Most students of English get confused when it comes to the usage of 'cloth', 'clothe' and 'clothes'.

You buy a piece of cloth to make clothes so that you can clothe your body to look elegant or smart.

In the above sentence, the word 'cloth' means fabric or material made of cotton with which tailors made dresses for their customers. The plural of cloth is cloths.

As for 'clothe', it means to put a dress to cover our body to look decent, instead of being naked. For example, a mother will clothe his baby after bathing it.

The word 'clothes' means 'garments' which we wear daily. You put on your clothes before you come out of your room after bathing.