clanvscrinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“clan” and “crin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,412
“clan” frequency rank
#42,257
“crin” frequency rank
46669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clan crin
Definition Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles. Poil long et rude qui pousse au cou, à la queue et aux extrémités inférieures des membres de certains animaux et spécialement des chevaux.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set clan and crin apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
clan
4 ch
crin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. clan (\klɑ̃\) and crin (\kʁɛ̃\) 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 46669, 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\. crin is at rank #42,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\.

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 46669, this pair ranks #193,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clan vs crin

Shared letters: cn. Private to "clan": al. Private to "crin": ir.

"clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "crin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clancaln · cclan · clann · cllan · clna · lcan
  • crinccrin · cirn · crinn · crni · crrin · rcin

Frequency comparison

clan#4,412
crin#42,257

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clan" and "crin" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\klɑ̃\ versus \kʁɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clan" or "crin"?
"clan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,412 in our French list, against #42,257 for "crin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering clan vs crin

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “clan” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list