Which to use
“clou” and “cous” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,128
- “clou” frequency rank
- #38,734
- “cous” frequency rank
- 50862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clou | cous |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs. |
Where the eye mixes clou and cous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clou with cous
A purely visual mix-up. clou (\klu\) and cous (\kus\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50862, 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\. cous is at rank #38,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kus\.
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 50862, this pair ranks #159,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clou vs cous
Shared letters: cou. Private to "clou": l. Private to "cous": s.
"clou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clou" and "cous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "clou" or "cous" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "cous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #159,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clou" and "cous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs cous". 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 #159,359 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.