Which to use
“clés” and “clubs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,666
- “clés” frequency rank
- #2,765
- “clubs” frequency rank
- 5431
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clés | clubs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de clé. | Pluriel de club. |
Where the eye mixes clés and clubs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. clés runs 4 letters (CCVC) against clubs's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses clés with clubs
A purely visual mix-up. clés (\kle\) and clubs (\klœb\) 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 5431, 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\. clubs is at rank #2,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klœb\.
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 5431, this pair ranks #429,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clés vs clubs
Shared letters: cls. Private to "clés": é. Private to "clubs": bu.
"clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clubs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clubs ← cclubs · clbus · cllubs · clubbs · clubss · clusb · culbs · lcubs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clés" and "clubs" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "clés" or "clubs" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "clubs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clés" and "clubs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs clés". 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 #429,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.