Which to use
“cools” is a verb and “cords” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,099
- “cools” frequency rank
- #18,281
- “cords” frequency rank
- 45380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cools | cords |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of cool | plural of cord |
Where the eye mixes cools and cords
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cools and cords
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cools is /kuːlz/ while cords is /kɔːdz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cools is recorded at frequency rank #27,099, classified as averb, pronounced /kuːlz/. cords is at rank #18,281, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔːdz/.
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 45380, this pair ranks #221,768 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cools vs cords
Shared letters: cos. Private to "cools": l. Private to "cords": dr.
"cools" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "cords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cools" for "cords" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cools" or "cords"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cools" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cords" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,768 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cools" and "cords" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coms vs cools". 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 #221,768 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.