clorevscoreWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,684
“clore” frequency rank
#16,102
“core” frequency rank
34786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clore core
Definition Fermer, enfermer, mettre dans une enceinte. Centre, noyau.

Where the eye mixes clore and core

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
clore
4 ch
core

Look-alike desk: clore vs core

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clore is \klɔʁ\ while core is \kɔː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34786, 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\. core is at rank #16,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔː\.

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 34786, this pair ranks #281,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clore vs core

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "clore": l. Private to "core": -.

"clore" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "core" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clorecclore · cllore · cloer · clorre · clroe · colre · lcore
  • coreccore · coer · corre · croe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clore" and "core" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clore" is a verb and "core" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "clore" or "core"?
"core" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,102 in our French list, against #18,684 for "clore". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "clore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "core" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clore" and "core" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs core". 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 #281,391 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