claquevsclaquesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,942
“claque” frequency rank
#21,570
“claques” frequency rank
29512
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature claque claques
Definition Coup du plat de la main. Pluriel de claque.

Same sound, different letters: claque vs claques

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

6 ch
claque
7 ch
claques

Ear matches; page differs - claque and claques

This is the hard kind. claque and claques are pronounced identically (\klak\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “claque” sits inside “claques”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

claque is recorded at frequency rank #7,942, classified as anoun, pronounced \klak\. claques is at rank #21,570, tagged as anoun, 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 29512, this pair ranks #316,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of claque vs claques

Shared letters: acelqu. Private to "claque": -. Private to "claques": s.

"claque" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "claques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • claquecclaque · claqeu · claqque · clauqe · cllaque · clqaue · lcaque
  • claquescalques · cclaques · claqeus · claqques · claquess · claquse · clauqes · cllaques

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "claque" and "claques" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\klak\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "claque" vs "claques" - which ranks higher?
"claque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,942 in our French list, against #21,570 for "claques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"claque" and "claques" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "claque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "claques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #316,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "claque" and "claques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claquée vs claques". 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 #316,197 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