clémentvsclientConfusable pair

Quick tell: clément is a adjective, client is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“clément” is an adjective and “client” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,434
“clément” frequency rank
#1,655
“client” frequency rank
7089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clément client
Definition Qui pratique la clémence. Romain qui se plaçait sous le patronage d’un citoyen noble ou puissant.

Where the eye mixes clément and client

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
clément
6 ch
client

Visual trap between clément and client

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clément is \kle.mɑ̃\ while client is \kli.jɑ̃\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clément is recorded at frequency rank #5,434, classified as anadj, pronounced \kle.mɑ̃\. client is at rank #1,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kli.jɑ̃\.

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 7089, this pair ranks #424,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of clément vs client

Shared letters: celnt. Private to "clément": . Private to "client": i.

"clément" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC  ·  "client" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clientcclient · cilent · cleint · cliennt · clientt · clietn · clinet · cllient

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clément" and "client" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clément" is an adjective and "client" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "clément" or "client" show up more?
"client" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,655 in our French list, against #5,434 for "clément". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clément" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "client" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clément" and "client" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chient vs client". 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 #424,272 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list