Which to use
“calanques” and “claques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,162
- “calanques” frequency rank
- #21,570
- “claques” frequency rank
- 61732
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | calanques | claques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de calanque. | Pluriel de claque. |
Where the eye mixes calanques and claques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. calanques runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVVC) against claques's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses calanques with claques
A purely visual mix-up. calanques (\ka.lɑ̃k\) and claques (\klak\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
calanques is recorded at frequency rank #40,162, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.lɑ̃k\. claques is at rank #21,570, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klak\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 61732, this pair ranks #90,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of calanques vs claques
Shared letters: acelqsu. Private to "calanques": n. Private to "claques": -.
"calanques" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "claques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "calanques" and "claques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "calanques" vs "claques" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "calanques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "claques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #90,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "calanques" and "claques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claquée vs claques". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #90,737 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.