clorevscoeTell them apart

Quick tell: clore is a verb, coe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“clore” is a verb and “coe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,684
“clore” frequency rank
#34,469
“coe” frequency rank
53153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clore coe
Definition Fermer, enfermer, mettre dans une enceinte. Queue.

Letter map: clore vs coe

Shared letters muted; letters that set clore and coe apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
clore
3 ch
coe

Role in the sentence - clore and coe

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clore is averb and coeanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clore is recorded at frequency rank #18,684, classified as averb, pronounced \klɔʁ\. coe is at rank #34,469, tagged as anoun.

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 53153, this pair ranks #142,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clore vs coe

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "clore": lr. Private to "coe": -.

"clore" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "coe" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clorecclore · cllore · cloer · clorre · clroe · colre · lcore

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "clore" for "coe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clore" is a verb and "coe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "clore" vs "coe" - which ranks higher?
"clore" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,684 in our French list, against #34,469 for "coe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "clore" and "coe".

  • Full dictionary entry for "clore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clore" and "coe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coe vs conde". 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 #142,692 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