clercvsCRCWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“clerc” and “CRC” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,093
“clerc” frequency rank
#41,205
“CRC” frequency rank
57298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clerc CRC
Definition Personne qui est entrée dans l’état ecclésiastique en recevant la tonsure. Outil logiciel permettant de détecter les erreurs de transmission ou de transfert des données.

Letter map: clerc vs CRC

Shared letters muted; letters that set clerc and CRC apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
clerc
3 ch
CRC

Corpus notes: clerc and CRC

clerc and CRC are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clerc is recorded at frequency rank #16,093, classified as anoun, pronounced \klɛʁ\. CRC is at rank #41,205, tagged as anoun.

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 57298, this pair ranks #115,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clerc vs CRC

Shared letters: cr. Private to "clerc": el. Private to "CRC": -.

"clerc" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "CRC" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clerccclerc · celrc · clecr · clercc · clerrc · cllerc · clrec · lcerc

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clerc" and "CRC" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary French text, does "clerc" or "CRC" show up more?
"clerc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,093 in our French list, against #41,205 for "CRC". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "clerc" and "CRC".

  • Full dictionary entry for "clerc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CRC" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clerc" and "CRC" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs CRC". 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 #115,903 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