clientvscogentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: client is a noun, cogent is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“client” is a noun and “cogent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,780
“client” frequency rank
#41,053
“cogent” frequency rank
43833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature client cogent
Definition A customer, a buyer or receiver of goods or services. Reasonable and convincing; based on evidence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set client and cogent apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
client
6 ch
cogent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

client and cogent form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

client is recorded at frequency rank #2,780, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈklaɪ.ənt/. cogent is at rank #41,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkəʊd͡ʒn̩t/.

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 43833, this pair ranks #236,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

client#2,780
cogent#41,053

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "client" and "cogent" be used interchangeably?
No, "client" and "cogent" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering client vs cogent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “client”; for an adjective, it's “cogent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “client” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list