Which to use
“chat” and “clan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,433
- “chat” frequency rank
- #4,412
- “clan” frequency rank
- 5845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chat | clan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mammifère carnivore félin de taille moyenne, au museau court et arrondi, domestiqué, apprivoisé ou encore à l’état sauvage. | Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles. |
Where the eye mixes chat and clan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chat and clan
A purely visual mix-up. chat (\ʃa\) and clan (\klɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chat is recorded at frequency rank #1,433, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃa\. clan is at rank #4,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klɑ̃\.
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 5845, this pair ranks #427,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chat vs clan
Shared letters: ac. Private to "chat": ht. Private to "clan": ln.
"chat" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chat" and "clan" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "chat" vs "clan" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #427,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chat" and "clan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clan vs coon". 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 #427,912 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.