Which to use
“clefs” and “clos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,516
- “clefs” frequency rank
- #5,433
- “clos” frequency rank
- 13949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clefs | clos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de clef. | Espace de terre cultivé et fermé de murs ou de haies, de fossés, etc. |
Where the eye mixes clefs and clos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clefs with clos
A purely visual mix-up. clefs (\kle\) and clos (\klo\) 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 13949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clefs is recorded at frequency rank #8,516, classified as anoun, pronounced \kle\. clos is at rank #5,433, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klo\.
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 13949, this pair ranks #398,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clefs vs clos
Shared letters: cls. Private to "clefs": ef. Private to "clos": o.
"clefs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "clos" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clefs" and "clos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "clefs" or "clos" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "clefs" and "clos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clefs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clefs" and "clos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clos vs coon". 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 #398,831 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.