Which to use
“clin” and “clos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,619
- “clin” frequency rank
- #5,433
- “clos” frequency rank
- 15052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clin | clos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clignement. | Espace de terre cultivé et fermé de murs ou de haies, de fossés, etc. |
Where the eye mixes clin and clos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clin and clos
A purely visual mix-up. clin (\klɛ̃\) and clos (\klo\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clin is recorded at frequency rank #9,619, classified as anoun, pronounced \klɛ̃\. clos is at rank #5,433, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klo\.
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 15052, this pair ranks #394,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clin vs clos
Shared letters: cl. Private to "clin": in. Private to "clos": os.
"clin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clos" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clin" and "clos" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clin" or "clos"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clin" and "clos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clin vs coon". 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 #394,077 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.