clouer

\klu.e\

/\klu.e\/ verb

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

The verdict

“clouer” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #41,184. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#41,184
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fixer avec des clous.

Corpus desk

Index FR-clouer · clouer · French

clouer · rank #41,184 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #41,184
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH CHSCT

Nearest frequency peer: CHSCT (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « clouer »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

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

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).

clouer vs cour
67% similar
clouer vs clous
67% similar
clouer vs cover
67% similar

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

Key facts for clouer
PropertyValue
Headwordclouer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\klu.e\
Letters6
Frequency rank#41,184
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « clouer »

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

#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 « CHSCT » (#41,183), « collégiales » (#41,185), « chorizo » (#41,182). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « clouer » est au #41,184. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around clouer (IPA \klu.e\), averb. Corpus frequency is #41,184 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for clouer, with forms such as "cclouer", "cllouer", and "cloeur". 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, "cour", "clous", "cover", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is clouer, spelled C-L-O-U-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fixer avec des clous.
  2. 2
    Fixer d’une manière quelconque un objet contre un autre, sur un autre.
  3. 3
    Assujettir quelqu’un, le fixer dans une résidence, un état, une position.
  4. 4
    Attaquer une pièce adverse de façon à créer un clouage.
  5. 5
    Pénétrer sexuellement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cette pièce était meublée d’un petit lit de fer, […] ; en face de la couche, une table, […], et un prie-Dieu au-dessus duquel était cloué un Christ ; […].
  2. Clouer des tentures de portes, de fenêtres. - Clouer des planches, des lattes, des ardoises. - Clouer une caisse.

This word in other languages

nail(English)clavar(Español)nageln(Deutsch)cravar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cclouer
  • cllouer
  • cloeur
  • clouerr
  • cloure
  • cluoer
  • lcouer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clouer - 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.

cclouer1cllouer1cloeur2clouerr1cloure2cluoer2lcouer2
Edit distance from "clouer"

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 "clouer"?
"clouer" is spelled C-L-O-U-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \klu.e\.
What does "clouer" mean?
As a verb, "clouer" means: Fixer avec des clous.
What words are commonly confused with "clouer"?
"clouer" is commonly confused with "cour", "clous", "cover". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "clouer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clouer" is \klu.e\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clouer" come from?
"clouer" 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 "clouer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

choppe#41,181chaman#41,177causse#41,174carlin#41,172

Similar misspelling depth

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

BRGM7 variantsCélia7 variantsBrenner7 variantsBezos7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list