Which to use
“clou” and “con” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,128
- “clou” frequency rank
- #1,056
- “con” frequency rank
- 13184
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clou | con |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Sexe de la femme. |
Where the eye mixes clou and con
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between clou and con
A purely visual mix-up. clou (\klu\) and con (\kɔ̃\) 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 13184, 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\. con is at rank #1,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃\.
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 13184, this pair ranks #402,081 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clou vs con
Shared letters: co. Private to "clou": lu. Private to "con": n.
"clou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "con" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clou ← cclou · cllou · cluo · colu · lcou
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clou" and "con" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clou" or "con"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "clou" and "con" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "con" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,081 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clou" and "con" 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 #402,081 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.