Which to use
“chips” and “clins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,366
- “chips” frequency rank
- #29,695
- “clins” frequency rank
- 41061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chips | clins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Très fine tranche de pommes de terre frite dans l’huile, saupoudrée légèrement de sel ou assaisonnée. | Pluriel de clin. |
Where the eye mixes chips and clins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses chips with clins
A purely visual mix-up. chips (\ʃips\) and clins (\klɛ̃\) 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 41061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chips is recorded at frequency rank #11,366, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃips\. clins is at rank #29,695, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klɛ̃\.
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 41061, this pair ranks #235,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chips vs clins
Shared letters: cis. Private to "chips": hp. Private to "clins": ln.
"chips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "clins" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chips" for "clins" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chips" or "clins"?
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 "chips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #235,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chips" and "clins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceint vs clins". 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 #235,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.