ClèvesvsclosesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Clèves is a name, closes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Clèves” is a name and “closes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,221
“Clèves” frequency rank
#24,153
“closes” frequency rank
63374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Clèves closes
Definition Ville d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie. Féminin pluriel de clos.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Clèves and closes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Clèves
6 ch
closes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Clèves is \klɛv\ while closes is \kloz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Clèves is recorded at frequency rank #39,221, classified as aname, pronounced \klɛv\. closes is at rank #24,153, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kloz\.

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 63374, this pair ranks #82,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Clèves vs closes

Shared letters: cels. Private to "Clèves": . Private to "closes": o.

"Clèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "closes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • closesccloses · clloses · cloess · closess · closses · clsoes · colses · lcoses

Frequency comparison

Clèves#39,221
closes#24,153

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Clèves" and "closes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Clèves" is a name and "closes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Clèves" or "closes"?
"closes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,153 in our French list, against #39,221 for "Clèves". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Clèves vs closes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Clèves”; for an adjective, it's “closes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Clèves” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list