Which to use
“carrière” and “clairière” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,020
- “carrière” frequency rank
- #28,101
- “clairière” frequency rank
- 29121
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carrière | clairière |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Champ de courses : espace fermé de barrières et disposé pour toute sorte de courses, principalement pour les courses à cheval ou en char. | Endroit d’une forêt dégarni d’arbres. |
Where the eye mixes carrière and clairière
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. carrière runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against clairière's 9 (CCVVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: carrière vs clairière
A purely visual mix-up. carrière (\ka.ʁjɛʁ\) and clairière (\klɛ.ʁjɛʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carrière is recorded at frequency rank #1,020, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁjɛʁ\. clairière is at rank #28,101, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klɛ.ʁjɛʁ\.
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 29121, this pair ranks #318,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carrière vs clairière
Shared letters: aceirè. Private to "carrière": -. Private to "clairière": l.
"carrière" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV · "clairière" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "carrière" and "clairière" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "carrière" or "clairière" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "carrière" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clairière" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #318,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carrière" and "clairière" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrer vs carrière". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #318,612 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.