A frequency-lock detector (FLD) adapted to register more than one target count per period of a target clock signal to generate a count value related to a frequency difference between the target clock signal and a reference clock signal. In various embodiments of the invention, this count registration is implemented by multiplying the target clock signal, discerning two or more phases of a signal, and/or organizing a count pipeline. In a representative embodiment, an FLD of the invention has a counter circuit and a control circuit. The counter circuit has (i) a frequency multiplier adapted to multiply the frequency of the target clock signal to generate a multiplied signal, (ii) two target counters adapted to register counts based on occurrences of two different phases of the accelerated signal to generate two auxiliary numbers, and (iii) a multiplexer adapted to select an appropriate one of the auxiliary numbers as the count value related to the frequency difference. The control circuit has a reference counter adapted to control, based on the reference clock signal, the count registration in the target counters and the value selection in the multiplexer.