Which to use
“clé” and “culs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,987
- “clé” frequency rank
- #12,545
- “culs” frequency rank
- 14532
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clé | culs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument de métal que l’on introduit dans une serrure pour ouvrir ou fermer un accès. Ancienne clé à panneton que l'on place et fait tourner dans la serrure d'une porte, d'un coffre, etc. | Pluriel de cul. |
Where the eye mixes clé and culs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clé and culs
A purely visual mix-up. clé (\kle\) and culs (\ky\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clé is recorded at frequency rank #1,987, classified as anoun, pronounced \kle\. culs is at rank #12,545, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ky\.
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 14532, this pair ranks #396,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clé vs culs
Shared letters: cl. Private to "clé": é. Private to "culs": su.
"clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "culs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- culs ← cculs · clus · culls · culss · cusl · ucls
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clé" for "culs" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clé" or "culs"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "clé" and "culs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "culs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clé" and "culs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "culs vs ky". 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 #396,264 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.