coupvsCSUWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: coup is a noun, CSU is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“coup” is a noun and “CSU” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,671
“coup” frequency rank
#1,348
“CSU” frequency rank
18019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coup CSU
Definition Treffen, Anschlag, Hieb, Schlag, Streich Kurzwort für Christlich-Soziale Union (in Bayern (e. V.))

Where the eye mixes coup and CSU

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
coup
3 ch
CSU

Visual trap between coup and CSU

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coup is [ku] while CSU is [tseːʔɛsˈʔuː]. 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 abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coup is recorded at frequency rank #16,671, classified as anoun, pronounced [ku]. CSU is at rank #1,348, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [tseːʔɛsˈʔuː].

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 18019, this pair ranks #1,922,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coup vs CSU

Shared letters: cu. Private to "coup": op. Private to "CSU": s.

"coup" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "CSU" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coupccoup · copu · coupp · cuop · ocup

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coup" and "CSU" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coup" is a noun and "CSU" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "coup" or "CSU" show up more?
"CSU" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,348 in our German list, against #16,671 for "coup". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "coup" and "CSU" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coup" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CSU" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,922,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coup" and "CSU" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coli vs coup". 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 #1,922,154 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list