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Coo or coup?

coo is a noun meaning “The murmuring sound made by a dove or pigeon”; coup is a noun meaning “A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act”. They sound the same (/kuː/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) coup is about 5.0 times as common as coo.

cooorcoup

What is the difference between coo and coup?

coocoup
Part of speechnoun, verb, interjection, adjectivenoun, verb
Meaning

The murmuring sound made by a dove or pigeon

An expression of pleasure made by a person

To make a soft murmuring sound, similar to a dove or pigeon

A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act

USOf Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery

To execute a coup

Examplenone recordednone recorded
Formscooscoups
Pronunciation/kuː/ /ku//kuː/ /ku/
In writing2.0 times per million words10 times per million words

Sources: coo and coup in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Every current meaning of coo and coup

coo

  1. 1

    noun The murmuring sound made by a dove or pigeon

  2. 2

    verb To make a soft murmuring sound, similar to a dove or pigeon

  3. 3

    interjection An expression of approval, surprise, etc

  4. 4

    adjective slangPronunciation spelling of cool

  5. 5

    noun Initialism of chief operating officer

  6. 6

    noun An expression of pleasure made by a person

  7. 7

    verb To speak in an admiring fashion, to be enthusiastic about

  8. 8

    noun Initialism of country of origin

coup

  1. 1

    noun A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act

  2. 2

    verb To execute a coup

  3. 3

    verb ScotlandTo exchange, barter

  4. 4

    noun USOf Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery

  5. 5

    verb informalTo subject (a nation) to a coup d'état

  6. 6

    noun A coup d'état

  7. 7

    verb To empty out, overturn, or tilt, such as from a cart or wheelbarrow

  8. 8

    noun A takeover of one group by another

Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.

Which is more common, coo or coup?

coo appears 2.0 times per million words; coup 10 times per million words.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

The words