Which to use
“clou” and “com” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,128
- “clou” frequency rank
- #3,446
- “com” frequency rank
- 15574
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clou | com |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Communication. |
Where the eye mixes clou and com
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clou and com
A purely visual mix-up. clou (\klu\) and com (\kɔm\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15574, 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\. com is at rank #3,446, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔm\.
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 15574, this pair ranks #391,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clou vs com
Shared letters: co. Private to "clou": lu. Private to "com": m.
"clou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "com" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clou ← cclou · cllou · cluo · colu · lcou
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clou" for "com" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clou" vs "com" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "com" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clou" and "com" 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 #391,764 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.