Which to use
“clochard” and “clocher” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,152
- “clochard” frequency rank
- #14,224
- “clocher” frequency rank
- 38376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clochard | clocher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne sans domicile fixe qui mène une vie de mendicité, qui refuse les contraintes sociales ou est contrainte à la misère. | Bâtiment de maçonnerie ou de charpente dans lequel sont suspendues les cloches et qui est ordinairement élevé au-dessus d’une église. |
Where the eye mixes clochard and clocher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. clochard runs 8 letters (CCVCCVCC) against clocher's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between clochard and clocher
A purely visual mix-up. clochard (\klɔ.ʃaʁ\) and clocher (\klɔ.ʃe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clochard is recorded at frequency rank #24,152, classified as anoun, pronounced \klɔ.ʃaʁ\. clocher is at rank #14,224, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klɔ.ʃe\.
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 38376, this pair ranks #255,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clochard vs clocher
Shared letters: chlor. Private to "clochard": ad. Private to "clocher": e.
"clochard" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "clocher" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clochard" and "clocher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "clochard" or "clocher"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "clochard" and "clocher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clochard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clocher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #255,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clochard" and "clocher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clochard vs clochards". 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 #255,692 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.