choosevscoosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“choose” and “coos” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,296
“choose” frequency rank
#39,755
“coos” frequency rank
41051
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choose coos
Definition To pick; to make the choice of; to select. third-person singular simple present indicative of coo

Where the eye mixes choose and coos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
choose
4 ch
coos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. choose (/t͡ʃuːz/) and coos (/kuːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choose is recorded at frequency rank #1,296, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃuːz/. coos is at rank #39,755, tagged as averb, pronounced /kuːz/.

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 41051, this pair ranks #261,950 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of choose vs coos

Shared letters: cos. Private to "choose": eh. Private to "coos": -.

"choose" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "coos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • choosecchoose · chhoose · chooes · choosse · chosoe · cohose · hcoose
  • coosccoos · cooss · coso · ocos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "choose" and "coos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃuːz/ versus /kuːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "choose" or "coos"?
"choose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,296 in our English list, against #39,755 for "coos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list