Which to use
“clown” and “con” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,974
- “clown” frequency rank
- #1,056
- “con” frequency rank
- 10030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clown | con |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acteur qui, dans les cirques, fait des exercices d’équilibre et de souplesse tout en jouant un rôle bouffon. Il porte habituellement un accoutrement grotesque. | Sexe de la femme. |
Where the eye mixes clown and con
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clown vs con
A purely visual mix-up. clown (\klun\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clown is recorded at frequency rank #8,974, classified as anoun, pronounced \klun\. 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 10030, this pair ranks #414,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clown vs con
Shared letters: cno. Private to "clown": lw. Private to "con": -.
"clown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "con" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clown ← cclown · cllown · clonw · clownn · clowwn · clwon · colwn · lcown
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "clown" and "con" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "clown" or "con"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clown" 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 #414,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clown" and "con" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clown 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 #414,476 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.