clochevsclochersTell them apart

Which to use

“cloche” and “clochers” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,690
“cloche” frequency rank
#30,097
“clochers” frequency rank
36787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cloche clochers
Definition Instrument fait de métal, ordinairement de bronze, creux, ouvert, qui va en s’élargissant par en bas et dont on tire du son au moyen d’un battant suspendu à l’intérieur ou à l’aide d’un marteau extérieur. Pluriel de clocher.

Where the eye mixes cloche and clochers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cloche
8 ch
clochers

Why the eye confuses cloche with clochers

A purely visual mix-up. cloche (\klɔʃ\) and clochers (\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 2 extra letter(s) - “cloche” sits inside “clochers”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cloche is recorded at frequency rank #6,690, classified as anoun, pronounced \klɔʃ\. clochers is at rank #30,097, 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 36787, this pair ranks #267,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cloche vs clochers

Shared letters: cehlo. Private to "cloche": -. Private to "clochers": rs.

"cloche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "clochers" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clocheccloche · clcohe · clloche · clocche · cloceh · clochhe · clohce · colche
  • clocherscclochers · clcohers · cllochers · clocchers · clocehrs · clocherrs · clocherss · clochesr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cloche" for "clochers" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\klɔʃ\ versus \klɔ.ʃe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "cloche" or "clochers" show up more?
"cloche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,690 in our French list, against #30,097 for "clochers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cloche" and "clochers" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cloche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clochers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cloche" and "clochers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clochers vs couchers". 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 #267,139 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list