ClèvesvscrêpesConfusable pair

Quick tell: Clèves is a name, crêpes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,221
“Clèves” frequency rank
#12,757
“crêpes” frequency rank
51978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Clèves crêpes
Definition Ville d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie. Pluriel de crêpe, sorte d’étoffe.

Where the eye mixes Clèves and crêpes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Clèves and crêpes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Clèves
6 ch
crêpes

Visual trap between Clèves and crêpes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Clèves is \klɛv\ while crêpes is \kʁɛp\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51978, 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\. crêpes is at rank #12,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛp\.

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 51978, this pair ranks #151,038 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Clèves vs crêpes

Shared letters: ces. Private to "Clèves": lvè. Private to "crêpes": prê.

"Clèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "crêpes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Clèves" and "crêpes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Clèves" is a name and "crêpes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Clèves" or "crêpes"?
"crêpes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,757 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Clèves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crêpes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,038 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Clèves" and "crêpes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clavel vs Clèves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #151,038 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