Which to use
“claquer” is a verb and “cliques” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,881
- “claquer” frequency rank
- #28,486
- “cliques” frequency rank
- 43367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | claquer | cliques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faire un certain bruit aigu et éclatant. | Nom par lequel on désignait des sabots de bois dans certaines provinces. |
Where the eye mixes claquer and cliques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses claquer with cliques
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: claquer is \kla.ke\ while cliques is \klik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43367, 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\. cliques is at rank #28,486, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klik\.
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 43367, this pair ranks #218,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of claquer vs cliques
Shared letters: celqu. Private to "claquer": ar. Private to "cliques": is.
"claquer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "cliques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "claquer" for "cliques" ever safe?
Frequency check: "claquer" vs "cliques" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "claquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cliques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #218,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "claquer" and "cliques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claquée vs cliques". 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 #218,581 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.