clapvsCMATell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,906
“clap” frequency rank
#36,763
“CMA” frequency rank
61669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clap CMA
Definition Outil de cinématographie composé de deux planchettes reliées par une charnière, que l'on filme en train d'être rabattu, et en enregistre simultanément le son du claquement sec, en début de séquence de tournage, ceci permettant une synchronisation ultérieure de l'image et du son. Organisme consulaire chargé de développer l’activité économique dans le domaine de l'artisanat.

Where the eye mixes clap and CMA

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
clap
3 ch
CMA

Why the eye confuses clap with CMA

A purely visual mix-up. clap (\klap\) and CMA (\se.ɛm.a\) 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 61669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clap is recorded at frequency rank #24,906, classified as anoun, pronounced \klap\. CMA is at rank #36,763, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.ɛm.a\.

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 61669, this pair ranks #91,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clap vs CMA

Shared letters: ac. Private to "clap": lp. Private to "CMA": m.

"clap" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "CMA" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clapcalp · cclap · clapp · cllap · clpa · lcap

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clap" for "CMA" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\klap\ versus \se.ɛm.a\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "clap" or "CMA" show up more?
"clap" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,906 in our French list, against #36,763 for "CMA". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "clap" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CMA" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clap" and "CMA" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs CMA". 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 #91,080 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list