Which to use
“claus” is a verb and “crau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,220
- “claus” frequency rank
- #44,959
- “crau” frequency rank
- 84179
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | claus | crau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe claure. | Plaine semée de pierres et de galets arrondis, couverte d’une steppe propice aux activités pastorales. |
Where the eye mixes claus and crau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. claus runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against crau's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: claus vs crau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: claus is [ˈklaws] while crau is \kʁo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
claus is recorded at frequency rank #39,220, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈklaws]. crau is at rank #44,959, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁo\.
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 84179, this pair ranks #13,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of claus vs crau
Shared letters: acu. Private to "claus": ls. Private to "crau": r.
"claus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "crau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "claus" for "crau" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "claus" or "crau" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "claus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "claus" and "crau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs crau". 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 #13,441 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.