A mime artist acts without words. Clowns traditionally mime and so they are usually mime artists. Some clowns may do other kinds of performance. The key thing about a clown is that they try to entertain with their costumes, mimes and other performances. Pure mime artists may do humorous or serious performances. Chaplin was a star of the silent screen era and so by definition he was a mime artist. He was usually funny and so he often acted like a clown. I don't think he dressed like a clown very much but I am not sure about that.

As nouns the difference between clown and mime is that clown is a performance artist often associated with a circus and typically characterised by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig and who performs slapstick while mime is a form of acting without words; pantomime. As verbs the difference between clown and mime is that clown is to act in a silly fashion while mime is to mimic.