Which to use
“claquer” is a verb and “claques” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,881
- “claquer” frequency rank
- #21,570
- “claques” frequency rank
- 36451
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | claquer | claques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faire un certain bruit aigu et éclatant. | Pluriel de claque. |
Where the eye mixes claquer and claques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses claquer with claques
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: claquer is \kla.ke\ while claques is \klak\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “claquer” becomes s in “claques”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
claquer is recorded at frequency rank #14,881, classified as averb, pronounced \kla.ke\. 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 36451, this pair ranks #269,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of claquer vs claques
Shared letters: acelqu. Private to "claquer": r. Private to "claques": s.
"claquer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "claques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "claquer" and "claques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "claquer" or "claques" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "claquer" 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 #269,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "claquer" 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 #269,529 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.