clous

\klu\

/\klu\/ noun

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

The verdict

“clous” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #12,129. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,129
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Zone protégée par des clous dans un passage clouté.

Corpus desk

Index FR-clous · clous · French

clous · rank #12,129 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,129
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH clou

Nearest frequency peer: clou (-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 « clous »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « clous » 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).

clous vs cou
60% similar
clous vs coup
60% similar
clous vs club
60% similar

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

Key facts for clous
PropertyValue
Headwordclous
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\klu\
Letters5
Frequency rank#12,129
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « clous »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.clousse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « clou » (#12,128), « coloris » (#12,130), « clans » (#12,127). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « clous » est au #12,129. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around clous (IPA \klu\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,129 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Zone protégée par des clous dans un passage clouté.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for clous, with forms such as "cclous", "cllous", and "closu". 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, "cou", "coup", "club", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, 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 clous, spelled C-L-O-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Zone protégée par des clous dans un passage clouté.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Blanche revint sur ses pas et traversa dans les clous à une dizaine de mètres devant eux, à l'angle du boulevard et de la place. Ils la rejoignirent et reprirent la mission.
  2. Il voulut se remettre à toréer les autos ; il se plaça un peu en avant des clous, de telle sorte que les voitures arrivaient sur lui avec un élan diminué.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cclous
  • cllous
  • closu
  • clouss
  • cluos
  • colus
  • lcous

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

cclous1cllous1closu2clouss1cluos2colus2lcous2
Edit distance from "clous"

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 "clous"?
"clous" is spelled C-L-O-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \klu\.
What does "clous" mean?
As a noun, "clous" means: Zone protégée par des clous dans un passage clouté.
What words are commonly confused with "clous"?
"clous" is commonly confused with "cou", "coup", "club". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "clous"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clous" is \klu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clous" come from?
"clous" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "clous", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

clans#12,127aidés#12,094great#12,167Gênes#12,171

Similar misspelling depth

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

bougie7 variantsAriane7 variantsAnnecy7 variantsadieux7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list