Spotless vessel into which French article is put (5)
I believe the answer is:
clean
'spotless' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'vessel into which french article is put' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'article' could be 'an' (English indefinite article) and 'an' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'cle' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for clean that I've seen before include "Honest" , "Not dirty" , "Laundered" , "Second part of 18" , "Not prohibited" .)