clés vs Cte, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,666
“clés” frequency rank: #42,264
“Cte” frequency rank: 44930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	clés	Cte
Definition	Pluriel de clé.	Comte.

Where the eye mixes clés and Cte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch

clés

3 ch

Cte

Look-alike desk: clés vs Cte

A purely visual mix-up. clés (\kle\) and Cte (\kɔ̃t\) 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 44930, 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\. Cte is at rank #42,264, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\.

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 44930, this pair ranks #206,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clés vs Cte

Shared letters: c. Private to "clés": lsé. Private to "Cte": et.

"clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Cte" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clés" for "Cte" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (\kle\ versus \kɔ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "clés" vs "Cte" - which ranks higher?

"clés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,666 in our French list, against #42,264 for "Cte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "Cte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #206,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"clés" and "Cte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs Cte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #206,724 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.