clicsvscliqueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,323
“clics” frequency rank
#9,969
“clique” frequency rank
26292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clics clique
Definition Pluriel de clic. Coterie, bande de gens qui veulent parvenir à quelque chose d’une manière peu honnête.

Same sound, different letters: clics vs clique

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. clics runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against clique's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
clics
6 ch
clique

Ear matches; page differs - clics and clique

This is the hard kind. clics and clique are pronounced identically (\klik\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clics is recorded at frequency rank #16,323, classified as anoun, pronounced \klik\. clique is at rank #9,969, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klik\.

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 26292, this pair ranks #335,954 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of clics vs clique

Shared letters: cil. Private to "clics": s. Private to "clique": equ.

"clics" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "clique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clics ← cclics · cilcs · clcis · cliccs · clicss · clisc · cllics · lcics
  • clique ← cclique · cilque · cliqeu · cliqque · cliuqe · cllique · clqiue · lcique

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clics" and "clique" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\klik\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "clics" vs "clique" - which ranks higher?
"clique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,969 in our French list, against #16,323 for "clics". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clics" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #335,954 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clics" and "clique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caïds vs clics". 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 #335,954 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