What is the difference between clearing a cell and deleting the contects of a cell?

Answer 1

You're mixing up terminologies here. A cell can be cleared or deleted.

When we delete a cell, the cell is physically removed from the table. The cells in the same row or column then slide into its place depending on which option we choose (shift up or slide left).

When we clear a cell we remove the cell's content, but the cell itself is not removed. The cell content includes any formatting we've applied to the cell. That is, the cell will revert to the current default format.

Answer 2

Clearing a cell removes all content, such as data and formatting, while keeping the cell itself in place. Deleting the contents of a cell removes only the data or formula within it, leaving formatting intact.