Which to use
“cite” is a verb and “cot” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,666
- “cite” frequency rank
- #22,045
- “cot” frequency rank
- 33711
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cite | cot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. | A simple bed, especially one for portable or temporary purposes. |
Where the eye mixes cite and cot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cite is /saɪt/ while cot is /kɒt/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cite is recorded at frequency rank #11,666, classified as averb, pronounced /saɪt/. cot is at rank #22,045, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɒt/.
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 33711, this pair ranks #327,045 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cite vs cot
Shared letters: ct. Private to "cite": ei. Private to "cot": o.
"cite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cot" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cite ← ccite · ciet · citte · ctie · icte