climatvsclimateWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: climat is a noun, climate is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“climat” is a noun and “climate” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,070
“climat” frequency rank
#33,614
“climate” frequency rank
35684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature climat climate
Definition Ensemble des statistiques décrivant les conditions météorologiques moyennes (température, précipitations, humidité, vent, etc.) et leur variabilité dans une région donnée, observées sur une période d’au moins 30 ans. Climatique.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set climat and climate apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
climat
7 ch
climate

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: climat is \kli.mɑ\ while climate is \ˈklaɪ.mɪt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “climat” sits inside “climate”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

climat is recorded at frequency rank #2,070, classified as anoun, pronounced \kli.mɑ\. climate is at rank #33,614, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈklaɪ.mɪt\.

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 35684, this pair ranks #274,972 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of climat vs climate

Shared letters: acilmt. Private to "climat": -. Private to "climate": e.

"climat" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "climate" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • climatcclimat · cilmat · cliamt · climatt · climmat · climta · cllimat · clmiat
  • climatecclimate · cilmate · cliamte · climaet · climatte · climmate · climtae · cllimate

Frequency comparison

climat#2,070
climate#33,614

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "climat" and "climate" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "climat" is a noun and "climate" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "climat" or "climate"?
"climat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,070 in our French list, against #33,614 for "climate". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering climat vs climate

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “climat”; for an adjective, it's “climate”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “climat” 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