Which to use
“clac” is an onomatopoeia and “claquent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,310
- “clac” frequency rank
- #38,706
- “claquent” frequency rank
- 75016
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clac | claquent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Onomatopée qui traduit un bruit sec et rapide. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe claquer. |
Same sound, different letters: clac vs claquent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. clac runs 4 letters (CCVC) against claquent's 8 (CCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - clac and claquent
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: clac and claquent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \klak\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anonomatopoeia, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 4 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clac is recorded at frequency rank #36,310, classified as anonomatopoeia, pronounced \klak\. claquent is at rank #38,706, tagged as averb, 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 75016, this pair ranks #35,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clac vs claquent
Shared letters: acl. Private to "clac": -. Private to "claquent": enqtu.
"clac" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "claquent" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clac" and "claquent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clac" or "claquent"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "clac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "claquent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clac" and "claquent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claquée vs claquent". 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 #35,369 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.