clientvsclinsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,655
“client” frequency rank
#29,695
“clins” frequency rank
31350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature client clins
Definition Romain qui se plaçait sous le patronage d’un citoyen noble ou puissant. Pluriel de clin.

Where the eye mixes client and clins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
client
5 ch
clins

Why the eye confuses client with clins

A purely visual mix-up. client (\kli.jɑ̃\) and clins (\klɛ̃\) 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 31350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

client is recorded at frequency rank #1,655, classified as anoun, pronounced \kli.jɑ̃\. clins is at rank #29,695, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klɛ̃\.

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 31350, this pair ranks #304,341 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of client vs clins

Shared letters: ciln. Private to "client": et. Private to "clins": s.

"client" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "clins" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clientcclient · cilent · cleint · cliennt · clientt · clietn · clinet · cllient
  • clinscclins · cilns · clinns · clinss · clisn · cllins · clnis · lcins

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "client" and "clins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kli.jɑ̃\ versus \klɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "client" vs "clins" - which ranks higher?
"client" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,655 in our French list, against #29,695 for "clins". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "client" and "clins" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "client" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,341 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "client" and "clins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceint vs clins". 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 #304,341 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