claquentvsclaquesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: claquent is a verb, claques is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“claquent” is a verb and “claques” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,706
“claquent” frequency rank
#21,570
“claques” frequency rank
60276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature claquent claques
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe claquer. Pluriel de claque.

Same sound, different letters: claquent vs claques

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. claquent runs 8 letters (CCVCVVCC) against claques's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
claquent
7 ch
claques

Homophone desk: claquent vs claques

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: claquent and claques carry the same recorded pronunciation, \klak\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

claquent is recorded at frequency rank #38,706, classified as averb, 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 60276, this pair ranks #98,501 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of claquent vs claques

Shared letters: acelqu. Private to "claquent": nt. Private to "claques": s.

"claquent" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCC  ·  "claques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • claquent ← calquent · cclaquent · claqeunt · claqquent · claquennt · claquentt · claquetn · claqunet
  • claques ← calques · cclaques · claqeus · claqques · claquess · claquse · clauqes · cllaques

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "claquent" and "claques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "claquent" is a verb and "claques" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "claquent" or "claques"?
"claques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,570 in our French list, against #38,706 for "claquent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "claquent" / "claques". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "claquent" 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 #98,501 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "claquent" and "claques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claquée vs claquent". 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 #98,501 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