clever

\ˈklɛvɐ\

/\ˈklɛvɐ\/ adj

The verdict

“clever” is uncommon French (frequency #91,535 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,535
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Malin, maline.

Corpus desk

Index FR-clever · clever · French

clever · rank #91,535 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,535
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH civette

Nearest frequency peer: civette (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « clever »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « clever » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for clever
PropertyValue
Headwordclever
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ˈklɛvɐ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#91,535
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « clever » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.clevertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « civette » (#91,534), « closet » (#91,536), « citerons » (#91,533). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « clever » est au #91,535. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

clever is uncommon French at frequency #91,535 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ˈklɛvɐ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Malin, maline.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for clever, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is clever, spelled C-L-E-V-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Malin, maline.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Schluss mit verstopften Ventilen: BBB präsentiert mit «CoreCap» eine clevere Lösung für Tubeless-Fans.

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 "clever"?
"clever" is spelled C-L-E-V-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈklɛvɐ\.
What does "clever" mean?
As an adjective, "clever" means: Malin, maline.
How do you pronounce "clever"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clever" is \ˈklɛvɐ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clever" come from?
"clever" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "clever", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list