Which to use
“chape” and “clapet” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,422
- “chape” frequency rank
- #33,612
- “clapet” frequency rank
- 69034
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chape | clapet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de manteau long, sans plis et agrafé par devant, allant jusqu’aux talons, que portent l’évêque, le célébrant, les chantres, etc. durant l’office ; se dit aussi du grand manteau de drap ou de serge des chanoines. On nomme aussi ce vêtement un pluvial. | Sorte de petite soupape qui se lève et se baisse par le moyen d’une simple charnière. |
Where the eye mixes chape and clapet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chape runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against clapet's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between chape and clapet
A purely visual mix-up. chape (\ʃap\) and clapet (\kla.pɛ\) 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 69034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chape is recorded at frequency rank #35,422, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃap\. clapet is at rank #33,612, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kla.pɛ\.
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 69034, this pair ranks #56,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chape vs clapet
Shared letters: acep. Private to "chape": h. Private to "clapet": lt.
"chape" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "clapet" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chape" and "clapet" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "chape" or "clapet"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clapet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chape" and "clapet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chape vs chapel". 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 #56,747 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.