clinvscoïtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,619
“clin” frequency rank
#41,723
“coït” frequency rank
51342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clin coït
Definition Clignement. Accouplement sexuel.

Where the eye mixes clin and coït

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. clin (CCVC) and coït (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
clin
4 ch
coït

Visual trap between clin and coït

A purely visual mix-up. clin (\klɛ̃\) and coït (\kɔ.it\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51342, 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\. coït is at rank #41,723, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.it\.

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 51342, this pair ranks #155,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clin vs coït

Shared letters: c. Private to "clin": iln. Private to "coït": otï.

"clin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "coït" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clincclin · ciln · clinn · cllin · clni · lcin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clin" for "coït" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\klɛ̃\ versus \kɔ.it\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "clin" vs "coït" - which ranks higher?
"clin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,619 in our French list, against #41,723 for "coït". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coït" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clin" and "coït" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coït 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 #155,762 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