Which to use
“clivage” and “clonage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,961
- “clivage” frequency rank
- #34,468
- “clonage” frequency rank
- 53429
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clivage | clonage |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Technique de reproduction d’un être vivant, génétiquement identique à un autre préexistant. → voir clonage reproductif |
Where the eye mixes clivage and clonage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. clivage and clonage follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: clivage vs clonage
A purely visual mix-up. clivage (\kli.vaʒ\) and clonage (\klo.naʒ\) 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 53429, 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\. clonage is at rank #34,468, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klo.naʒ\.
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 53429, this pair ranks #140,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clivage vs clonage
Shared letters: acegl. Private to "clivage": iv. Private to "clonage": no.
"clivage" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "clonage" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clivage" for "clonage" ever safe?
Which is more common, "clivage" or "clonage"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "clivage" and "clonage" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clivage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clonage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #140,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clivage" and "clonage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clonage vs codage". 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 #140,800 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.