clésvsclipTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,666
“clés” frequency rank
#4,413
“clip” frequency rank
7079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clés clip
Definition Pluriel de clé. Vidéo musicale, œuvre multimédia, principalement audiovisuelle et communément courte, réalisée pour promouvoir une chanson.

Where the eye mixes clés and clip

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
clés
4 ch
clip

Look-alike desk: clés vs clip

A purely visual mix-up. clés (\kle\) and clip (\klip\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clés is recorded at frequency rank #2,666, classified as anoun, pronounced \kle\. clip is at rank #4,413, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klip\.

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 7079, this pair ranks #424,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of clés vs clip

Shared letters: cl. Private to "clés": . Private to "clip": ip.

"clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "clip" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clipcclip · cilp · clipp · cllip · clpi · lcip

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clés" and "clip" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kle\ versus \klip\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clés" or "clip"?
"clés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,666 in our French list, against #4,413 for "clip". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clip" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clés" and "clip" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CIP vs clip". 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 #424,309 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