Which to use
“clés” and “clos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,666
- “clés” frequency rank
- #5,433
- “clos” frequency rank
- 8099
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clés | clos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de clé. | Espace de terre cultivé et fermé de murs ou de haies, de fossés, etc. |
Where the eye mixes clés and clos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clés vs clos
A purely visual mix-up. clés (\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 a single letter - é in “clés” becomes o in “clos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8099, 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\. 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 8099, this pair ranks #421,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clés vs clos
Shared letters: cls. Private to "clés": é. Private to "clos": o.
"clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clos" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clos ← cclos · cllos · closs · clso · lcos
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clés" and "clos" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "clés" vs "clos" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clés" 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 #421,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clés" 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 #421,141 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.