Which to use
“enclave” is a noun and “enlève” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,306
- “enclave” frequency rank
- #4,573
- “enlève” frequency rank
- 25879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enclave | enlève |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Terrain, territoire entièrement enfermé dans un autre. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de enlever. |
Where the eye mixes enclave and enlève
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enclave runs 7 letters (VCCCVCV) against enlève's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses enclave with enlève
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enclave is \ɑ̃.klav\ while enlève is \ɑ̃.lɛv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enclave is recorded at frequency rank #21,306, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.klav\. enlève is at rank #4,573, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.lɛv\.
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 25879, this pair ranks #338,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of enclave vs enlève
Shared letters: elnv. Private to "enclave": ac. Private to "enlève": è.
"enclave" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV · "enlève" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- enclave ← ecnlave · encalve · encclave · enclaev · enclavve · encllave · enclvae · enlcave
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "enclave" and "enlève" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "enclave" vs "enlève" - 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 "enclave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enlève" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enclave" and "enlève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enclave vs enclaves". 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 #338,356 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.