Which to use
“clique” is a noun and “cliquer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,969
- “clique” frequency rank
- #10,471
- “cliquer” frequency rank
- 20440
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clique | cliquer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Coterie, bande de gens qui veulent parvenir à quelque chose d’une manière peu honnête. | Enfoncer et relâcher le bouton-poussoir (ou cliquet) d’une souris ou d’un dispositif similaire. |
Where the eye mixes clique and cliquer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. clique runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against cliquer's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses clique with cliquer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clique is \klik\ while cliquer is \kli.ke\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “clique” sits inside “cliquer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clique is recorded at frequency rank #9,969, classified as anoun, pronounced \klik\. cliquer is at rank #10,471, tagged as averb, pronounced \kli.ke\.
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 20440, this pair ranks #368,254 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clique vs cliquer
Shared letters: ceilqu. Private to "clique": -. Private to "cliquer": r.
"clique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "cliquer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clique" and "cliquer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "clique" vs "cliquer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "clique" and "cliquer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cliquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,254 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clique" and "cliquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "claquée vs cliquer". 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 #368,254 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.