Clair

name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"clair" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Clair” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #20,062. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,062
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A female given name from French.

Corpus desk

Index EN-clair · Clair · English

Clair · rank #20,062 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,062
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH choo

Nearest frequency peer: choo (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “Clair”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “Clair” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Clair vs clay
40% similar
Clair vs clip
40% similar
Clair vs clan
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Clair
PropertyValue
HeadwordClair
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters5
Frequency rank#20,062
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Clair”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Clairlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “choo” (#20,061), “Chiang” (#20,060), “clogged” (#20,064). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “Clair” is #20,062. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around Clair, aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #20,062 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Clair, with forms such as "calir", "cclair", and "clairr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "clay", "clip", "clan", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: A less common spelling of Claire. The correct English form is Clair, spelled C-L-A-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A female given name from French.
  2. 2
    A male given name transferred from the surname.
  3. 3
    A village in New Brunswick, Canada.
  4. 4
    A town in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Etymology

A less common spelling of Claire.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • calir
  • cclair
  • clairr
  • clari
  • cliar
  • cllair
  • lcair

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Clair - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

calir2cclair1clairr1clari2cliar2cllair1lcair2
Edit distance from "Clair"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Clair"?
"Clair" is spelled C-L-A-I-R.
What does "Clair" mean?
As a proper noun, "Clair" means: A female given name from French.
What words are commonly confused with "Clair"?
"Clair" is commonly confused with "clay", "clip", "clan". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "Clair"?
A less common spelling of Claire. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Clair", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Bihar#20,045Cuomo#20,080assay#20,038aches#20,025

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Yvonne7 variantsVerde7 variantsfrail7 variantsglaze7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list