Which to use
“cloches” and “crèches” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,369
- “cloches” frequency rank
- #20,686
- “crèches” frequency rank
- 32055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cloches | crèches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cloche (instrument). | Pluriel de crèche. |
Where the eye mixes cloches and crèches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cloches and crèches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between cloches and crèches
A purely visual mix-up. cloches (\klɔʃ\) and crèches (\kʁɛʃ\) 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 32055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cloches is recorded at frequency rank #11,369, classified as anoun, pronounced \klɔʃ\. crèches is at rank #20,686, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛʃ\.
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 32055, this pair ranks #299,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cloches vs crèches
Shared letters: cehs. Private to "cloches": lo. Private to "crèches": rè.
"cloches" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "crèches" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cloches ← ccloches · clcohes · clloches · clocches · clocehs · clochess · clochhes · clochse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cloches" for "crèches" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cloches" vs "crèches" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cloches" and "crèches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cloches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crèches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cloches" and "crèches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coaches vs crèches". 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 #299,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.