clan

Name: clan, French Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

\klɑ̃\

/\klɑ̃\/ noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“clan” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,412. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,412
frequency rank, French: 8,609
“C” headwords: 6
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles.

Corpus desk

Index FR-clan · clan · French

clan · rank #4,412 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #4,412
LEN-MID 4 letters
VOW-1 1 vowel
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 6 variants
BOOK-DENSE 8,609
PHOTO-FINISH cherchez

Nearest frequency peer: cherchez (-1 rank slots)

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.

catastrophe

95,592
chair

95,591
cherchez

95,590
clan

95,589
clip

95,588
collectivit…

95,587

What this shows « clan » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

clan vs CN

0% similar

clan vs con

50% similar

clan vs clé

50% similar

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

Key facts for clan
Property	Value
Headword	clan
Language	French
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	\klɑ̃\
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#4,412
Misspellings tracked	6
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « clan »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).clanse place ici:

#4,412

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « cherchez » (#4,411), « clip » (#4,413), « chair » (#4,410). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « clan » est au #4,412. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around clan (IPA \klɑ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,412 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for clan, with forms such as "caln", "cclan", and "clann". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CN", "con", "clé", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is clan, spelled C-L-A-N.

Definition

1
Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles.
2
Chez les Amérindiens, famille élargie, dont l'association à d'autres clans formait une tribu.
3
Ensemble de personnes que réunissent des liens familiaux réels ou supposés.
4
Coterie sociale ou politique.
5
Groupe de joueurs qui jouent régulièrement ensemble.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how clan appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

Les chefs … ne l'avaient jamais aimé à cause de l'ascendant qu'il avait pris sur les hommes de leurs clans...
Chef de clan.

This word in other languages

clan(English)clan(Español)Clan(Deutsch)clã(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

caln
cclan
clann
cllan
clna
lcan

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clan - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "clan"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "clan"?

"clan" is spelled C-L-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is \klɑ̃\.

What does "clan" mean?

As a noun, "clan" means: Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles.

What words are commonly confused with "clan"?

"clan" is commonly confused with "CN", "con", "clé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "clan"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clan" is \klɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "clan" come from?

"clan" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.

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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

clip#4,413 aube#4,402 poil#4,432 taxi#4,384

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

anges6 variants trait6 variants sacs6 variants banc6 variants