Which to use
“enclaves” is a noun and “enlèves” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,271
- “enclaves” frequency rank
- #26,352
- “enlèves” frequency rank
- 64623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enclaves | enlèves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de enclave. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de enlever. |
Where the eye mixes enclaves and enlèves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enclaves runs 8 letters (VCCCVCVC) against enlèves's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between enclaves and enlèves
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enclaves is \ɑ̃.klav\ while enlèves 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 64623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enclaves is recorded at frequency rank #38,271, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.klav\. enlèves is at rank #26,352, 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 64623, this pair ranks #76,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of enclaves vs enlèves
Shared letters: elnsv. Private to "enclaves": ac. Private to "enlèves": è.
"enclaves" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC · "enlèves" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- enclaves ← ecnlaves · encalves · encclaves · enclaevs · enclavess · enclavse · enclavves · encllaves
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "enclaves" and "enlèves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "enclaves" or "enlèves" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "enclaves" and "enlèves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "enclaves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enlèves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enclaves" and "enlèves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enleva vs enlèves". 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 #76,149 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.