Which to use
“clou” and “cloud” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,128
- “clou” frequency rank
- #7,165
- “cloud” frequency rank
- 19293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clou | cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tige rigide, de fer ou d’autre métal, courte, pointue, et à la tête aplatie ou protubérante, qui sert de cheville pour fixer ou à pendre quelque chose. | Cloud computing ; informatique en nuage. |
Where the eye mixes clou and cloud
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clou and cloud
A purely visual mix-up. clou (\klu\) and cloud (\klawd\) 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 extra letter(s) - “clou” sits inside “cloud”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clou is recorded at frequency rank #12,128, classified as anoun, pronounced \klu\. cloud is at rank #7,165, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klawd\.
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 19293, this pair ranks #373,971 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clou vs cloud
Shared letters: clou. Private to "clou": -. Private to "cloud": d.
"clou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "cloud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clou" and "cloud" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "clou" vs "cloud" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cloud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #373,971 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clou" and "cloud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clou vs coon". 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 #373,971 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.