Which to use
“clame” and “clans” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,947
- “clame” frequency rank
- #12,127
- “clans” frequency rank
- 43074
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clame | clans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Outillage de maintien d’une pièce mécanique pendant son usinage ou sa modification. | Pluriel de clan. |
Where the eye mixes clame and clans
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clame (CCVCV) and clans (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between clame and clans
A purely visual mix-up. clame (\klam\) and clans (\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 43074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clame is recorded at frequency rank #30,947, classified as anoun, pronounced \klam\. clans is at rank #12,127, 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 43074, this pair ranks #220,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clame vs clans
Shared letters: acl. Private to "clame": em. Private to "clans": ns.
"clame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "clans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clame" and "clans" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "clame" or "clans"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #220,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clame" and "clans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clame vs clavel". 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 #220,818 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.