Which to use
“cliquer” is a verb and “crique” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,471
- “cliquer” frequency rank
- #32,361
- “crique” frequency rank
- 42832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cliquer | crique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enfoncer et relâcher le bouton-poussoir (ou cliquet) d’une souris ou d’un dispositif similaire. | Petite baie, partie du rivage qui forme dans les terres un enfoncement où de petits bateaux peuvent se mettre à l’abri. |
Where the eye mixes cliquer and crique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cliquer runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against crique's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cliquer with crique
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cliquer is \kli.ke\ while crique is \kʁik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cliquer is recorded at frequency rank #10,471, classified as averb, pronounced \kli.ke\. crique is at rank #32,361, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁik\.
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 42832, this pair ranks #222,617 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cliquer vs crique
Shared letters: ceiqru. Private to "cliquer": l. Private to "crique": -.
"cliquer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "crique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cliquer" and "crique" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cliquer" or "crique" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cliquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #222,617 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cliquer" and "crique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crique vs criquets". 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 #222,617 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.