Which to use
“clan” and “clown” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,412
- “clan” frequency rank
- #8,974
- “clown” frequency rank
- 13386
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clan | clown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles. | Acteur qui, dans les cirques, fait des exercices d’équilibre et de souplesse tout en jouant un rôle bouffon. Il porte habituellement un accoutrement grotesque. |
Where the eye mixes clan and clown
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clan vs clown
A purely visual mix-up. clan (\klɑ̃\) and clown (\klun\) 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 13386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clan is recorded at frequency rank #4,412, classified as anoun, pronounced \klɑ̃\. clown is at rank #8,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klun\.
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 13386, this pair ranks #401,225 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clan vs clown
Shared letters: cln. Private to "clan": a. Private to "clown": ow.
"clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clan" for "clown" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "clan" or "clown" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,225 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clan" and "clown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clown 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 #401,225 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.