Which to use
“clous” and “coms” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,129
- “clous” frequency rank
- #36,773
- “coms” frequency rank
- 48902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clous | coms |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Zone protégée par des clous dans un passage clouté. | Abréviation populaire de commissions. |
Where the eye mixes clous and coms
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clous with coms
A purely visual mix-up. clous (\klu\) and coms (\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 48902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clous is recorded at frequency rank #12,129, classified as anoun, pronounced \klu\. coms is at rank #36,773, 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 48902, this pair ranks #175,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clous vs coms
Shared letters: cos. Private to "clous": lu. Private to "coms": m.
"clous" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "coms" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clous" for "coms" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clous" vs "coms" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "clous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clous" and "coms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coms vs kom". 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 #175,127 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.