clipsvscrissWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,126
“clips” frequency rank
#41,207
“criss” frequency rank
51333
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clips criss
Definition Pluriel de clip. Poignard dont la lame est parfois en zigzag à l’usage des Malais.

Where the eye mixes clips and criss

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
clips
5 ch
criss

Look-alike desk: clips vs criss

A purely visual mix-up. clips (\klip\) and criss (\kʁis\) 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 51333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clips is recorded at frequency rank #10,126, classified as anoun, pronounced \klip\. criss is at rank #41,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁis\.

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 51333, this pair ranks #155,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clips vs criss

Shared letters: cis. Private to "clips": lp. Private to "criss": r.

"clips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "criss" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clipscclips · cilps · clipps · clipss · clisp · cllips · clpis · lcips
  • crissccriss · cirss · crriss · crsis · rciss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clips" for "criss" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\klip\ versus \kʁis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clips" or "criss"?
"clips" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,126 in our French list, against #41,207 for "criss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criss" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clips" and "criss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caïds vs criss". 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 #155,826 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