Which to use
“clivage” and “clivages” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,961
- “clivage” frequency rank
- #25,593
- “clivages” frequency rank
- 44554
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clivage | clivages |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plans cristallins déterminés par la structure atomique tridimensionnelle de chaque espèce minérale. Il s’agit d'une propriété des minéraux de se fendre le long de faces planes (plans de clivage) qui suivent l’organisation de ses couches atomiques ou de leur symétrie. | Pluriel de clivage. |
Same sound, different letters: clivage vs clivages
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. clivage runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against clivages's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - clivage and clivages
This is the hard kind. clivage and clivages are pronounced identically (\kli.vaʒ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “clivage” sits inside “clivages”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clivage is recorded at frequency rank #18,961, classified as anoun, pronounced \kli.vaʒ\. clivages is at rank #25,593, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kli.vaʒ\.
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 44554, this pair ranks #209,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clivage vs clivages
Shared letters: acegilv. Private to "clivage": -. Private to "clivages": s.
"clivage" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "clivages" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clivage" and "clivages" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clivage" or "clivages"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "clivage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clivages" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clivage" and "clivages" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clivage vs clonage". 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 #209,614 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.